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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26032261">Isn't It Romcomic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtanstanst/pseuds/bangtanstanst'>bangtanstanst</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Isn't It Romantic (2019), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Lawyers, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Humor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:41:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>40,949</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26032261</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtanstanst/pseuds/bangtanstanst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Romcoms are awesome. They’re so simple – everyone always has their shit together, they have perfect lives, perfect jobs, perfect apartments, and they get the perfect relationship to top it all off. Honestly, you’d be crazy not to want to live in such a universe. That is, until you get stuck in one with the last person you want to see – stealer of clients, breaker of sanity, bane of your existence, Kim Seokjin.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Seokjin | Jin &amp; Reader, Kim Seokjin | Jin &amp; You, Kim Seokjin | Jin/Reader, Kim Seokjin | Jin/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>OOF the keyboard really ran away from me with this one🙈 Because of this, I’ve decided to split it into 2 parts!! Part 2 will be up next week :) I wrote this as part of the bangtan boardwalk summer collab by bangtan headquarters on tumblr!! It’s my very first net collab and I had so much fun writing for it, and I just wanted to thank the lovely admins and mods at the net for organising the collab!! Definitely go check out the other fics people wrote for it if you have the time, I’m sure you’ll find many many awesome stories to read :)</p><p>Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy this fic!!♥</p><p>PS: as you have probably realised by now, this is inspired by the movie Isn’t It Romantic – def go check it out if you haven’t seen it!!💕</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Will you marry me?”</p><p>Your heart skips a beat and your eyes widen. You blink at the man sinking down on one knee in the middle of the street, holding a small, black box. As he slowly opens it to reveal a diamond ring glittering in the blindingly bright summer sun, more and more people stop to look at the scene, smiling despite the hot weather.</p><p>A gasp, a disbelieving laugh. You smile. “Oh my god, of course I will!”</p><p>You keep walking, though you’re unable to take your eyes off the scene as the man jumps up just in time to catch his partner, who leaps into his arms. A soft sigh escapes you and tension melts off of you, despite the fact that you’re sweating like a pig and your top is starting to cling to your back, and it feels <em>disgusting</em>. <em>God, if only you</em>–</p><p>A shoulder crashes into yours, ice cold coffee spills onto your shirt.</p><p>“Sorry,” sounds the low mutter as the culprit brushes past you, quickly continuing on their way without even stopping to <em>look</em>, nevermind <em>help</em> you.</p><p>You open your mouth and turn to look over your shoulder, hoping to get a curse word or two in there before they can escape, but they’ve already disappeared into the thick crowd. A loud car honk echoes through the streets and bites at your eardrums as you turn around again, looking down at your blouse. The fabric is stained light brown, the cup in your hand now half-empty. The coffee that’s spilled over your skin is already growing sticky as it dries, and the front of your shirt is completely soaked and clinging to your stomach.</p><p>Letting out a heavy sigh, you bite your tongue to keep yourself from cursing. <em>Awesome. Really great. Thank you, kind stranger.</em></p><p>Heaving yet another sigh, you pick up your pace to get back to your building as fast as possible. You glance at the tall skyscraper across the street as you move, letting out a soft sigh. The enormous letters sitting above the entrance glare back at you, a bold font reading <em>King &amp; Wang Enterprises</em>– you quickly tear your eyes away from the building before someone else can bump into you, walking up to your own office. Throwing a last, longing glance across the street, you push open the glass doors and step inside.</p><p>Cold air wraps around you and you let out a satisfied breath, taking a sip of the remaining coffee as you peel your wet blouse off your belly. Soft, muted chatter fills the large lobby, your footsteps echo off the tiled floors, and the hot summer sun beams through the tall floor-to-ceiling windows in an attempt to fight the airconditioning. Some people are waiting on the elevators across the room, fanning cold air into their faces using the stacks of papers in their hands.</p><p>“Afternoon, Y/N,” greets the doorman, and you send him a smile. “Make sure to wash out that stain before it sets, eh?”</p><p>You laugh bitterly, raising your cup to him in a mocking toast. “Afternoon to you too, Jim,” you return as you brush past his desk, heading straight for the elevators. You stop just a few steps away from a group of men clad in full suits, absently drinking your coffee as you hit the button to summon an elevator. Taking a step back to wait for it to arrive, you glance down at the large coffee stain in your blouse once more, pulling at the wet fabric in the hopes that it won’t leak through to the camisole you’re wearing underneath and, god forbid, your bra. You might actually have to wash that thing before it has run its monthly cycle.</p><p>“Hey, Y/N, weren’t you going out for lunch?”</p><p>You turn to see Nara walk towards you, her heels clicking against the smooth floor. She looks as sweaty as you, her cheeks flushed dark red. Yet, her soft yellow blouse still flows gently around her torso, and the fabric of her charcoal trousers looks just as airy. She’s got her lunch box in hand, a cup of hot coffee in the other – you’ve got no clue how she drinks that stuff in the sweltering summer heat, but you certainly commend her for it. “I did, but I had some more work to do so I thought I’d just eat at my desk,” you say with a shrug, turning back to the elevators as the one on the far left jumps open. “Though, turns out, I might just spend the rest of my lunch break in the bathroom instead,” you add with a grimace, pointing to your stained top as you step into the elevator, the businessmen filing in right after you.</p><p>Nara takes in a hissing breath, shaking her head as she hits the button to the sixth floor. “Ah, bathroom lunch breaks,” she says with a dreamy sigh, leaning against the wall. “So many high school memories.”</p><p>You snort, shaking your head as the elevator doors slide closed. “Don’t kid yourself, Nara,” you shoot back, raising an eyebrow at her. You don’t care to keep your voice low, ignoring the looks being thrown your way. “We all know you got to sit at the cool kids’ table.”</p><p>She shrugs. “Well, what can I say. Some bubblegum gets you a long way,” she returns, sending you a wide grin.</p><p>“Oh, and you’re only now telling me this secret shortcut to the top? Where were you when I was fifteen?” you huff jokingly as the elevator doors jump open to your floor, and you shuffle past the businessmen on your way out. They take one look at your stained top and quickly press into each other to avoid coming into contact with you, because <em>understandably</em> they wouldn’t want to get their suits dirty.</p><p>Nara narrows her eyes at you, a smile curling at her lips as you walk down the long corridor ahead. You cast a glance through the windows on your right, your eyes gliding over the sea of glass shimmering in the summer sun, the matte concrete soaking up the heat. “We all know you gladly spent your time daydreaming somewhere in the corner, Y/N,” she returns, raising an eyebrow when you scowl and shake your head.</p><p>“I wasn’t <em>that </em>bad,” you return as you open the door to your firm’s small, rented office space, passing the small reception desk and pushing open the glass doors leading into the office. It’s small, though it’s not too cramped; there’s no more than twenty desks shoved together in groups of three and four, colourful post-it notes decorating the laptops and desktops resting on the desks, and there’s a tiny conference room to your right. A small kitchenette is stashed away in the far left corner, a coffee pot half-full with what can only be described as lukewarm, watery bean shit rests on the chipped countertop. Long sunrays break through the dirty windows, painting broad strokes of light over the stained carpet.</p><p>It might look like shit, but at least it’s air-conditioned.</p><p>“By the way, did you hear about the opening at King and Wang?” Nara whispers – with almost everyone having left for their lunch break, only a few people are still working at their desks, and they’re all so quiet you almost feel compelled to lower your voice.</p><p>Your eyebrows shoot up as you walk straight to the small bathroom next to the conference room. “The <em>what</em>?” you ask lowly. Pushing the bathroom door open with your shoulder, you keep your hands steady to avoid spilling even <em>more </em>of your coffee on yourself. “I thought they were only doing unpaid internships right now,” you mutter as you step inside, and the heavy door falls closed behind you.</p><p>Nara hums, leaning against the counter as she quickly looks underneath the two stalls, checking to see if there’s anyone listening in. Not that they’d care, but still. “They still are,” she replies, glancing in the dirty mirror as you open the tap, splashing water onto your shirt in the hope that the coffee will simply wash out. It doesn’t. “But they added another one,” she adds with a small smile, taking a sip of her coffee as she leans over to pull a few paper towels from the dispenser.</p><p>“So?” you question, smiling thankfully as you take the paper towels from her.</p><p>“So…” she repeats, putting her coffee on the counter, just far away enough so that you won’t get any water on her cup. “That means that there’ll be <em>two </em>internships in the department that we wanna work at.”</p><p>You let out a sigh, shaking your head as you try to dab the stain out of your blouse. The water only seems to have made it worse, though, and you internally curse out the stranger that decided to ruin the rest of your day and get away with the shittiest apology you’ve ever heard. “Dude, I can barely afford rent and groceries right now.”</p><p>Nara crosses her arms, chewing on her bottom lip. “I know, I know, I just…” She shakes her head and looks at the door. “Jesus, the fact that it’s right across the street from us just feels so <em>unfair</em>, you know? It’s like it’s taunting me all day.”</p><p>You dab a little more aggressively. “We’ll just work hard, get the experience we need, and try for a legitimate job there, okay? That way, we can afford to actually go have a celebratory dinner when they finally hire us, hm?” you try, poking her arm.</p><p>She smiles softly, looking down at her feet. “Yeah, yeah. Capitalism and stuff, I know.”</p><p>“We’ll get there, Nara,” you add, huffing when the paper towel starts to pill on your blouse. “I’m destroying my clothes for the experience they want so badly, alright? If they don’t hire us, I’ll sue them for damages.”</p><p>“I don’t think any judge would side with you on that one, babe,” Nara returns, though she’s already smiling again, helping you wipe off the thin and now <em>wet</em> paper sticking to your top.</p><p>“Well, then I’ll just have to sue them twice,” you insist, tossing the paper towels in the bin and trying to dab your shirt dry with your sleeve instead.</p><p>Nara snorts. “As if that’ll get you hired.”</p><p>You look at her as you push yourself off the counter and grab your coffee, sending her a grin. “It’ll show them I’ve got some real grit,” you shoot back, and she snorts again. “Standing up in the face of adversity and everything? Isn’t that what they want in their lawyers?”</p><p>“Oh my god, stop and get to work before you actually ruin your chances, you moron,” she says through a laugh, elbowing you in the side as she pushes open the door.</p><p>You snort. “It’s not like we have to do very important work anyway,” you joke, following her back into the office.</p><p>“Watch out, Y/N,” Nara says jokingly, looking over her shoulder and narrowing her eyes at you as you make your way to your desks. “One more word of truth and they might actually fire you.”</p><p>You grin as you walk past the large glass doors leading back to the tiny reception area, and you throw a quick, almost thoughtless glance in its direction. “Now, now, would that really be so– oh, mother<em>fucker</em>.”</p><p>Before Nara can ask you what’s going on, you’re storming past her, practically slamming the doors open, and you bite down on your tongue <em>hard</em> in an attempt not to explode. Because no matter how much white-hot anger is bubbling in the pit of your stomach, the fucker is with a <em>client</em>.</p><p>“Kim.” You manage to keep your voice steady, your lips curled up into a tight smile. <em>Deep breaths.</em> “I think you got the wrong building again. Across the street, remember?”</p><p>He averts his eyes from the client to frown at you, his gaze flickering down to the stain in your blouse you can’t even cover up by crossing your arms. “Y/N, I see you’re having a wonderful day,” he remarks with a small smile. He lifts his eyes back to yours, his eyes twinkling with amusement. His pitch black hair is styled perfectly, his bangs just long enough to fall elegantly over his forehead without spilling into his vision and blocking anyone’s view of his large eyes. His plump lips are pulled into a tight smile, and he straightens his broad shoulders, adjusting the dark grey tie around his neck. Under different circumstances, if you didn’t know him, if you’d never spoken a <em>word </em>to him, you might’ve thought he was a <em>little</em> attractive.</p><p>Maybe, in a different universe where he’s not an <em>asshole</em> all the fucking time.</p><p>Anger bubbles up inside of you until you fear it might spill out in front of the poor old lady that’s looking up at you with such a confused expression. You grit your teeth, taking another breath as you put on your most polite smile, turning to her. “Ma’am, I am so sorry to keep you waiting,” you start, folding your hands right in front of the stain – fortunately for you, she doesn’t seem to have noticed it in the first place.</p><p>“Ah, it’s quite alright, miss,” she replies sweetly, waving your words away with a wrinkled hand. “I was just talking to this nice young man.”</p><p><em>God dammit. There goes another one. </em>You fight the urge to stab him. “Ah, yes, I’m afraid he’s been coming in uninvited quite frequently lately,” you reply calmly, leaning towards the lady to murmur something to her ‘in secret’, even though Seokjin can definitely still hear you.</p><p>You don’t care.</p><p>“He was fired from our offices last month, but I’m afraid he hasn’t quite realised that himself,” you whisper lowly, and the old lady’s eyes widen as she glances at Seokjin.</p><p>He laughs softly, shaking his head. “Ah, not to worry, I actually work for the law firm under King and Wang Enterprises; I’ll give you my business card and you can –”</p><p>You take in a hissing breath through your teeth, gently putting a hand on the lady’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry for him, I swear he wasn’t having these illusions yesterday,” you tell her solemnly, turning her away from Seokjin. “Nara, will you please escort our valued client to someone who can help her?”</p><p>Nara purses her lips, barely able to suppress her laughter as she nods. “Of course. Follow me, ma’am, I’ll make sure we’ll…”</p><p>Her voice trails off as she and the lady disappear into the office, the door falling closed behind them. A victorious grin pulls at your lips, and you cross your arms as you turn back to face Seokjin, who looks nothing short of defeated. You keep your chin held high, returning his glare with a smug smirk.</p><p>“I never thought you’d stoop this low,” Seokjin hisses, swiftly wiping the disappointment off his face. “To even <em>suggest</em> I’d ever work here a single day in my life, nevermind be <em>fired</em> from this place –”</p><p>Your smirk dissipates in an instant. “Oh, cut the crap, Kim,” you huff, rolling your eyes. From the corner of your eye, you can see Moonsik lowering his eyes behind the reception desk, fervently writing on a piece of paper when you don’t know why he’d have to write this much when he’s not even on the phone. “Stop stealing our goddamn clients, alright? We barely have enough funds as it is, we can’t afford to –”</p><p>“I’m just trying to help poor old Gretel get some proper legal counsel, Y/N,” Seokjin interrupts calmly, as if he’s <em>actually</em> trying to be helpful. As if he’s not actually trying to run your entire firm into the ground. Yes, it might look like shit, but you work here for a <em>reason</em>, dammit, and you sure as hell aren’t going to be the one to stand by and watch someone push it off a cliff. “The lady just needs some help, for god’s sake; this is not about our differences, we’re all trying to –”</p><p>“Oh my god, will you shut your fucking face?!” you exclaim. “Just because you work for a big fucking conglomerate with endless money doesn’t mean you do better work, you elitist fucking <em>asshole</em>! You can’t keep sneaking into our firm and trying to steal our –”</p><p>Abruptly, you stop yourself when you realise how this looks to others. A calm, collected, <em>professional</em> Seokjin trying to placate the bitch screaming at him.</p><p>Biting down on your tongue once more, you try to suppress the anger burning in your chest, the hot frustration rising to your cheeks. “Get the fuck out, Kim,” you hiss, leaning closer and harshly poking his chest. “And you better not show your fucking face here again, or I’m throwing you out the goddamn window.”</p><p>He grins, calmly rubbing the spot. “I’ll be sure to stay in the hallway.”</p><p>Another surge of anger threatens to overwhelm you, but you manage to suppress it– well, maybe only slightly. “Go fuck yourself.”</p><p>“No can do.” His voice is so <em>fucking</em> smug that you have to fight the urge to strangle him, but he’s already turning around, and there are too many witnesses here anyway. “I think I’m gonna be too busy handling the clients you couldn’t keep.”</p><p>You can’t believe he’s bragging about working too much– and you can’t believe it <em>pisses you the fuck off</em>. “You– you –” you sputter, trying to come up with some kind of insult to throw at his head.</p><p>He just smiles in amusement as he glances over his shoulder, pulling the door open. “I’ll see you, Y/N.”</p><p>You scoff, turning to walk back into the office. “Better fucking not.”</p><p>The door falls closed.</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>When you finally make your way back to your apartment building, the air is hot and humid. The sun is starting to set, though, and so your trip home is a little more bearable than your afternoon coffee run. The sky is painted in blotches of pinks and purples, but you make sure not to dwell on it too much, lest more strangers bump into you today – you don’t have any coffee left, but you can never be too sure that someone else isn’t still carrying a double espresso ready to re-stain your top.</p><p>A plastic grocery bag rustles against your work bag as you fish your keys out of your pocket, humming along to the song that’s been stuck in your head since you left the office. Rolling your shoulders, you try to get rid of the last remnants of frustration and anger that pulls your muscles tight, trying to push any thought of Seokj– ah, the <em>devil</em>, of course, from your mind.</p><p>You turn the key in its lock and the door to your building swings open, creaking loudly. Ignoring the heavy, musty smell that hits you as soon as you step inside, you make your way up the several flights of stairs leading to your apartment. Your shoes drag over the worn carpet floors, and you pointedly ignore the suspicious stains in the fabric. A thin layer of sweat clings to your skin but you don’t care to wipe it off, knowing it’ll be back a mere second later anyway. It’s hot, <em>really </em>fucking hot– you have an inkling that your apartment might be exactly the same.</p><p>You stop at the fifth apartment on your left, fiddling with your key once more as you turn it in the lock, letting the door swing open as you step inside.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, fucking hell.</em>
</p><p>Much like you expected, the inside of your place is as hot, if not hotter than the streets outside, and you huff out a breath. <em>At least it’s not worse than the staircase.</em> “Hey,” you shout into the apartment as you let the door fall closed behind you. You slip out of your shoes, dropping your keys into your work bag.</p><p>“Oh, hey,” replies your roommate dryly, popping her head out of her open bedroom door. She’s adjusting the collar of her flowy blouse, her hair up in a high ponytail, and she looks <em>horrendously</em> put together. Her eyes flicker down to the stain in your own top, but she doesn’t comment, and you don’t care to even try to cover it up anymore. “I couldn’t get the AC to work, couldn’t get hold of the landlord either,” she tells you, popping back inside her room.</p><p>You groan, rubbing your face without caring all too much about smudging your mascara. It’s not like you’re gonna go back outside at this point.</p><p>“Can you maybe try again later?”</p><p>“Sure,” you reply in a monotone voice, your shoulders slumping as you cross the living room and head into the small hallway. You open the door to your bedroom and toss your work bag onto the floor. “Going out tonight?”</p><p>A muffled laugh. “Yeah, some guy keeps telling me to ignore the heat and go on a date with him.”</p><p>You can’t help but smile in amusement. “Oh wow, he’s really that thirsty, huh?” you remark as you walk back out of your room, heading to the kitchen to put the frozen pizza you bought into your shitty oven.</p><p>Another laugh. Sooyeon steps out of her room, blindly making some last adjustments to her ponytail. “Well, I mean, as soon as he said the words ‘working’ and ‘AC’, he had me convinced. Couldn’t care less about the thirst.”</p><p>With a snort, you turn to the messy round dinner table, pushing a few magazines and a stack of papers out of the way to make room for your grocery bag. “Playing hard to get, I see,” you joke, turning around again to set your oven to the right temperature. You ignore the growing stacks of dirty dishes in the sink and on the old, slightly grimy countertop, simply whirling around once more to pull your pizza out of the plastic bag.</p><p>“Playing strategically, is what I am,” Sooyeon shoots back as you rip open the box. “If this works out, I’ll have a boyfriend with a <em>working AC </em>for the summer.”</p><p>With an amused smile curling at your lips, you raise an eyebrow at her. “Ah, and they say romance is dead,” you say through a wistful sigh while she grabs her purse from the couch, filing through its contents.</p><p>She looks up and narrows her eyes at you, though she can’t help but laugh. “Well, you know, you’ve gotta go after the things you want these days, don’t you?”</p><p>You chuckle, humming in agreement as you put the pizza in the oven despite the fact that it hasn’t heated up yet, and you set the timer for twenty-one minutes and thirty seconds exactly. If there’s one thing you’ve learned from your years and years in law school, it’s how to make the <em>perfect</em> frozen pizza in the shortest amount of time. “Well, have fun with the AC guy, then. Cool off for the both of us, yeah?”</p><p>She snorts. “Will do,” she replies, checking her reflection in her phone screen and tucking a few nonexistent strands of hair behind her ear. “I’ll see you tonight or tomorrow, depending on how it goes,” she adds with a grin, slipping her phone into her purse and grabbing a jacket off the back of the couch.</p><p>With a laugh, you wave at her as you head to your room. “Have fun, hopefully!”</p><p>“Thank you, enjoy your pizza!” you hear just before the door opens and falls closed with a loud thud. As your apartment falls silent, the loud hum of traffic outside your window takes over, and you step inside your bedroom to <em>finally</em> exchange your stained top for a comfortable, non-sweaty, oversized pyjama shirt.</p><p>Letting out a deep sigh, you toss your blouse onto a chair in the corner – you’ll try to treat the stain later, you decide – and you hop onto your bed to set up your laptop. You honestly have no idea how Sooyeon can still go out; after a day like this, you barely have enough energy to lay on your bed and watch a movie without falling asleep, never mind trying to woo a guy with working airconditioning. The <em>pressure</em>.</p><p>With an empty gaze, you stare at your laptop for god knows how long, absently picking at your chipped nail polish until you finally jolt back to your senses, and you press the button to boot up your computer. As the screen lights up, your phone chimes, and you snatch it off the covers.</p><p><strong>Sooyeon<br/>
</strong>Btw [18:59]<br/>
I’ll send u his address [18:59]<br/>
Pls call the police if you don’t hear from me before dinner tomorrow [18:59]</p><p>Only a second later, the location pops up on your screen, and you lazily scan over the street name and apartment number for a moment before you reply.</p><p><em>Will do!! </em>[19:00]<br/>
<em>Remember the knee in crotch thing</em> [19:00]<br/>
Lmao definitely [19:00]<br/>
I’ll scream fire and everything [19:00]<br/>
Safety first [19:00]<br/>
<em>Alrighty have fun then!! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!!</em> [19:01]<br/>
Useless. [19:01]<br/>
You wouldn’t even go on this date yn [19:01]<br/>
<em>Listen here you little bully,,,,,</em> [19:01]<br/>
<em>I am t i r e d.</em> [19:01]<br/>
I don’t hear you denying anything!! ;))) [19:01]<br/>
Well anyhowdy I’ve gotta head out bye bye!! [19:01]<br/>
<em>Lmaooo bye, have fun!</em> [19:02]</p><p>With a laugh, you toss your phone back onto the covers, shaking your head as you climb over to the window just next to your bed. As the smell of pizza slowly drifts through the apartment and into your room, you grab onto the handle and try to wriggle your window open. It creaks and groans loudly in protest, and it barely budges a single millimeter. The oven timer beeps loudly in the kitchen but you refuse to give up – heaving a sigh, you grit your teeth, pushing and pulling at it until the window <em>finally</em> starts to lift in its rusty frame. You open it just wide enough for a gentle breeze to make its way inside. It’s not much cooler, but it’s fresh air nonetheless.</p><p>A strand of hair sticks to your forehead and tickles the tip of your nose, and you try to huff it away – to no avail. With another sigh, you quickly log onto your laptop and jump off your bed, tucking the rogue strand behind your ear as you rush back to the kitchen to take the pizza out of the oven. Leaving the box on the table for you to clean up later, you plop the hot pizza on a plate and hastily cut it in slices, walking back to your bedroom as you start to munch on the first one.</p><p>You leave your bedroom door open in an attempt to get the air to circulate. Carefully holding the plate in your hands, you lay back onto your bed and press the spacebar of your laptop with your toe to continue the romcom you started watching this morning.</p><p>You take another bite of pizza as the music swells, and you shift on your bed to make yourself more comfortable. Tension melts off of you as you focus on the movie, and you push the worries from your mind as the main character turns around to find her love interest standing in front of her. You sigh, a smile pulling at your lips as the camera zooms in on his face. <em>So pretty.</em></p><p>
  <em>“Julien, what are you doing here?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve been looking all around town for you, Elizabeth. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and I– I –”</em>
</p><p>You all but whine as you chew on your pizza. <em>Man, if only there was a real-life Julien.</em></p><p>
  <em>“But Julien, my fiancé –”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You don’t even love him, Elizabeth, and– and he doesn’t love you like I do. We can make our own happily ever after. Run away with me.”</em>
</p><p>You suppress a long groan, letting the pizza fall back on your plate. It’s so cliché, so unrealistic, but– <em>oh my </em>god<em>, give me that. Give me that right now.</em></p><p>On screen, the wind picks up and gently blows Elizabeth’s hair out of her face. She frowns up at Julien, her big eyes brimming with tears.</p><p>
  <em>“But Julien, my job– we won’t be able to live without my salary.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“None of that will matter, Elizabeth; because at least we’ll be together.”</em>
</p><p>You groan, tilting your head. You’ve seen this so many times before, and yet the way your heart aches at this scene doesn’t get any less. You know it’s over the top and corny as hell – but that just makes it so much <em>better</em>.</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, Julien…”</em>
</p><p>Elizabeth rushes towards Julien. Her heel breaks off mid-step, but <em>of course</em> Julien is there to catch her, to wrap his big arms around her and help her back to her feet. You sigh dreamily as the two look at each other for a prolonged moment, and their lips crash together in a fiery, passionate kiss.</p><p>You let out a longing sigh once more, sinking further into your bed. <em>Big apartment, dream job, love interests that literally sweep you off your feet and make your head spin…</em></p><p>
  <em>“Oh, Julien, I love you. I’ve always loved you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“And I you, Elizabeth. Ever since…”</em>
</p><p>A warm breeze drifts into your room and you blink slowly, your eyelids growing heavy. You try to keep them open, but they’re starting to cross, and you can barely see Julien’s face as he continues his declaration of love for Elizabeth. You sigh, resting your plate on your stomach as you let your eyes fall closed for just a minute, and the voices fade to the background.</p><p>
  <em>If only my life was that simple.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>A bird is chirping by your window.</p><p>You frown in annoyance, scrunching your nose as the bird continues to tweet at the morning sun. A cool breeze brushes over your face, the scent of fresh summer air swirls through your room. You groan, rolling over to shield your eyes from the bright sunlight that beams through your window, the gentle hum of traffic becoming clearer and clearer as you slowly wake up. As you breathe in, you catch a whiff of laundry detergent you <em>swear</em> you couldn’t smell last night.</p><p>The bird’s song grows shriller and you groan again, rolling onto your back once more. “Alright, alright,” you mutter through a sigh. “I’m up.”</p><p>The bird only seems to be encouraged by your response, and it enthusiastically continues to sing as you blindly roll out of bed. “Come on, man,” you huff at it as you rub your eyes, shuffling towards the bathroom without looking where you’re going. You reach out to grab the doorknob –</p><p>And your hand just grabs onto air.</p><p>With a frown, you try again, only to have your fingertips brush a flat wall.</p><p>You rub your eyes again and open them, blinking at the long stretch of pristinely white wall in front of you. You look to your right, your left, and your frown deepens– <em>what the fuck?</em></p><p>Not only does the hallway look clean and tidy, <em>suspiciously</em> so, but the doors… they’re not right.</p><p>You spin around to look at your own doorway, then over your shoulder where the bathroom door is supposed to be but <em>isn’t</em>. You look to your right, where, at the end of the hallway, Sooyeon’s bedroom is supposed to be. Instead, you find a small open closet filled with coats too warm for the season. Your heart starts to beat faster and faster, your breaths growing short and wheezy, and you break out into cold sweats– are you in the wrong apartment? Did someone lift you out of bed and transport you here? Where are the owners of the original apartment, and do they even –</p><p>A soft giggle sounds in the distance and your head whips around to look to your left. <em>Wrong, wrong, wrong.</em> Where you’d normally be able to see the living room, the hallway bends to the right and leads somewhere you don’t know. Before you can stop yourself, your legs are carrying you down the hallway and around the corner– and then you step into the enormous living room.</p><p>You’re frozen for a moment, your heart rate only speeding up as you look around the room. That’s not your couch, not your TV, not your kitchen… it doesn’t just have an island– it’s got a goddamn <em>dishwasher</em>. Something rumbles in the corner and you glance into the direction of the sound, your eyes widening when you notice there’s a modern, <em>working </em>airconditioning unit hanging on the wall.</p><p>
  <em>Where the hell have you ended up?</em>
</p><p>“Oh, hey, good morning!” chirps Sooyeon as she looks up from her phone. There’s plates with fruit and pancakes and waffles littered around the large wooden dinner table, and Sooyeon’s hand is wrapped around a large dotted mug, steam wafting up into the air.</p><p>You frown. “Hey,” you manage to breathe out. Her presence is reassuring, somehow – at least you’re not the only one who’s ended up in a different apartment overnight – but it’s still… “I– I take it your date didn’t go well?”</p><p>Sooyeon blinks at you, her eyebrows furrowing. “Date?” she repeats, laughing into her mug. “Me, on a date?” she adds with a snort, shaking her head. “You must’ve been dreaming up a storm in there.”</p><p>Your frown deepens and your eyes widen slightly. “I’m– <em>what</em>?”</p><p>“God, Y/N, are you okay?” Sooyeon asks through a laugh, pulling back one of the chairs next to her. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”</p><p>You blink, trying to remember how to breathe.</p><p>“Come on, sit down,” she says, patting the fancy wooden chair next to her. It’s the same light brown colour as the dinner table, a colourful cushion resting on the seat. “You’ve got a big day today, so you better eat up.”</p><p>Speechless, you gape at her, trying to figure out whether or not you’re still asleep, whether or not you’re dreaming or something even weirder has happened. It all feels so strangely <em>real </em>– the way she gently smiles at you, her eyebrows raised, a single dark eyelash clinging to her cheek, the sunlight streaming in from the large windows catching some of the morning frizz in her hair. There’s details your own mind couldn’t possibly make up – your dreams have never even been <em>close</em> to this. You can only assume that you’re actually awake, which makes it all the more confusing.</p><p>
  <em>Maybe you got spontaneous amnesia, or maybe you travelled into the future somehow… you have to check what year it is. And then maybe also see if –</em>
</p><p>“Y/N?”</p><p>You snap out of your thoughts, taking a breath and trying to plaster on a normal expression. “I… I was just trying to remember what exactly I was doing today,” you tell her cautiously, forcing a laugh in the hopes she’ll just tell you without asking any questions. <em>If you really somehow ended up in the future or got spontaneous amnesia or something else happened, you need to stay calm and just live life as usual. You can’t fuck this up for yourself.</em></p><p>Nara simply laughs, and you let out a short, relieved breath. “Your interview, remember?” she says, and you feel your muscles tighten. <em>Do you… not have a job?</em> “Man, you’ve been nervous about this all week. I get it though– the way you’re always talking about wanting to work at King and Wang, I can’t blame you for being nervous,” Sooyeon replies, loudly slurping her tea.</p><p>
  <em>You have an interview at King and Wang?</em>
</p><p>You let out a sharp breath, trying to keep yourself from showing too much joy, too much anxiety – you’re assuming you’ve had a freakout about it already. Maybe even several.</p><p>“Besides, we both know how much the whole freelancing thing has been tiring you out,” she adds casually, looking back at her phone as she puts down her mug, picking up a fork instead. “Not to stress you out any more, of course,” she says with a sheepish smile. “But think about how much we’ll be able to brighten the place up with all the extra money you’re gonna earn!”</p><p>You blink again. <em>Freelance work, job interview. Brightening the place up.</em> You quickly look around. <em>This place has, like, 15 lamps. How much brighter does she wanna go?</em> “Right, right,” you mutter, clearing your throat as you turn back to her. “I better uh… get ready, then, I guess.”</p><p>“Sure, sure,” replies Sooyeon. You stand up slowly, your chair scraping over the hardwood floor. “Hope the outfit we picked out last night didn’t walk out, eh?” she jokes, snickering to herself as you awkwardly laugh along, slowly slinking back towards the hallway.</p><p>“Right, thanks again for that, by the way,” you tell her, forcing a smile as you stop just before the bend in the hallway, your mind still racing at a million miles an hour. “I’ll uhm… talk to you later?”</p><p>“Yeah, sure! My shift starts around twelve, you can just drop by if you’ve got the time,” she replies, sending you a smile.</p><p>You simply nod, too scared that asking her <em>where</em> exactly you’re supposed to drop by might cause too much suspicion. “Of course, of course, and otherwise I’ll just see you back here.” You clear your throat, shifting uncomfortably. “At home. Our apartment. The place we rent. With our money.”</p><p>Sooyeon’s smile widens and she nods cheerfully. You turn around to walk back to your bedroom, still slightly disoriented. “Good luck!”</p><p>“Thank you,” you return. <em>You’re gonna need it.</em></p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>You’re not in the future.</em>
</p><p>You keep staring at Google’s answer to ‘what date is it today’, blinking at your phone as you push your way through the morning crowd, unbothered by the sheer number of shoulders bumping into yours. Today <em>is</em> really the day after yesterday, and yet that just seems more confusing to you than the time-travel alternative. <em>Fucking hell</em>, what are you even supposed to –</p><p>You stumble over your own feet and curse underneath your breath, glaring down at your heels as you regain your balance. For some <em>stupid</em> reason, all the comfortable shoes have up and disappeared from your closet and have been replaced with the most unsupportive heels known to mankind. Not that they don’t look absolutely <em>amazing</em> on you, but you’d prefer not to risk falling on your face before you even get to King and Wang.</p><p>With a huff, you keep walking, only sparing the streets in front of you a glance to check whether you’re going in the right direction before you turn back to your phone. Okay, so maybe you’re not dreaming, and you’re not in the future– maybe you’re in a coma, somehow, and your brain is just keeping you busy? With a frown, you stare down at your screen with your fingers hovering over the keyboard. You’ve got to Google something you could never know yourself. Biting your lip, you slowly type something random; <em>how many times do you breathe in a day?</em></p><p><em>16 breaths per minute, 960 breaths an hour, 23040 breaths a day.</em> There’s article upon article answering the same question, website upon website that you’ve never heard of but <em>seems</em> real. You chew on your lip. Your brain could still be fooling you, but this illusion seems a little <em>too</em> extensive…</p><p>Your heel suddenly sinks into a subway grate and you stumble yet again, wobbling in place as you try to regain your balance before you –</p><p>“Jesus!”</p><p>
  <em>Oh, fuck.</em>
</p><p>You squeeze your eyes closed, too afraid to look up at the person you are now pressed up against. Wincing at yourself, you scramble upright and unhook your heel from the grate, shakily standing back on two feet. “I’m so sor–” As soon as you look up, the need to apologise fades away in an instant. “Oh, you’ve <em>got</em> to be fucking <em>kidding</em> me,” you mutter, quickly stepping out of his embrace.</p><p>Dark black hair, a <em>disgustingly</em> handsome face, large lips pulled into a scowl, flawless skin glowing in the morning sun. He’s wearing a white dress shirt that wraps around his large shoulders almost perfectly, a dark tie around his neck, slightly loosened. With, of course, a large – and still growing – coffee stain on his shirt.</p><p>You grin, crossing your arms. “Kim, I see you’re having a wonderful day.” You manage not to snarl at him, way too proud of the stain you’ve made.</p><p>He huffs out a breath, rolling his eyes. “I don’t need this right now, alright?” he returns, uselessly patting the stain with his fingers. “You better be glad I brought a fucking jacket.”</p><p>“Aw, that’s a pity,” you pout at him, neglecting to tell him you have a small packet of baby wipes that <em>might </em>help him salvage the shirt; the scowl on his face is just too <em>good</em>. “I’ve heard coffee stains are all the rage this summer.”</p><p>He grits his teeth. You notice his jaw tick as he looks down at his shirt and heaves a sigh, shaking his head. “Don’t you have clients to tend to?” he huffs, lifting his eyes back to yours. “They might leave for a better firm if you don’t get to work fast.”</p><p>You frown, anger faltering for just a moment. He thinks you’re still working at your old firm. He literally goes there every day, for fuck’s sake – he’d <em>know</em> whether or not you worked for them. <em>Is this… this has got to be proof, right? You’re not crazy.</em></p><p>“What, no snarky comeback?” he says with a scoff, throwing back the last of whatever is in his coffee cup before tossing it in a nearby garbage can. “You’re really losing your mojo, Y/N.”</p><p>You take a breath and straighten your shoulders, glaring at him as he raises an eyebrow in challenge. “I’m just trying to start my morning without wanting to strangle you,” you return, crossing your arms.</p><p>He snorts. “God, everything’s changing around here,” he mutters to himself, and he shakes his head, letting out a bitter laugh. “It’s like I woke up in a different world.”</p><p>Your heart pounds. You don’t quite know whether or not he means it as a joke, if there’s a core of truth to his words. You blink at him nevertheless, unable to keep your composure. <em>Are you not actually going crazy?</em></p><p>“Jesus Christ, do you need a minute?” Seokjin snaps, and you jolt out of your thoughts with an annoyed sigh. “I’m leaving anyway, have fun with whatever old Gretels you’re supposedly helping today.”</p><p>You huff, rolling your eyes. “Holy shit, dude, literally go fuck yourself.”</p><p>A laugh. He turns to walk away. “Bye, Y/N.”</p><p>He leaves you standing in the middle of the street as he disappears into the crowd of morning commuters, and you wait for a minute before you head into the same direction. <em>Please, please tell me this interview is for a position that’s as far away from him as possible.</em></p><p>For some reason, you don’t think you’re that lucky.</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You let out a shaky breath, reading over your cover letter for the fifth time in a row to <em>somehow</em> gauge why they invited you here for an interview, or why you tried for a position in the first place. You shift in your seat, quickly glancing around the small and still empty office you’ve been told to wait in. It’s probably one of the fanciest offices you’ve seen that are <em>not</em> on TV – floor-to-ceiling windows and a sleek, black-and-white colour scheme, framed diplomas and certificates sitting in a large black bookcase that covers the entire wall to your left. The assistant’s desk is visible through the glass office door – she looks overworked to say the least, the dark bags under her eyes a stark contrast with the colourful post-it notes strewn about her desk.</p><p><em>Fucking hell.</em> This guy you’re interviewing with is probably somewhere high up the ladder, and it only makes you more confused as to how you even got here.</p><p>Letting out a sharp breath, you look down at your cover letter once more, trying to read the second paragraph again, but you can’t get yourself to <em>focus</em>. Your heart is beating a million miles an hour and you can only wonder what –</p><p>“Hi, hello, sorry for the wait!”</p><p>You jolt upright, fighting a gasp as you whip your head around to look at the man entering the office, his long legs carrying him to his desk in only a few steps. He’s clad in a dark grey suit, pressed pants and all, a matching grey tie around his neck, a bright white dress shirt underneath. “That’s– that’s alright, you’re a busy man,” you reply hastily, standing up to shake his hand. “I’m Y/N. Nice to meet you, sir.”</p><p>He smiles in response. “Pleasure to finally meet you too, Y/N.” He takes your hand and grips it firmly, shakes once before he lets go. “And please, call me Junho,” he replies, his thin lips stretching out into a polite smile as he sits down. He pats down his gelled hair before he straightens up, pulling a folder to the center of his desk.</p><p>You blink at him in silence as he quickly scans the resume and cover letter inside. There’s small notes scribbled in the margins of both pages. You don’t stand a chance at reading them– not that you’d try if you could, because the only thing that’s going through your mind right now is <em>what the fuck is happening right now?</em></p><p>“I do apologise, I don’t have much time, so I’ll just get straight to the point,” he starts, lifting his head to look at you and folding his hands over the folder. You sit up a little straighter in an attempt to match his creepily correct posture. “As we both know, you definitely have the educational background we want in our hires, and your cover letter looks great.” <em>Oh, shit, it does?</em> “Really, the only thing that makes me a little hesitant is that you just don’t have enough experience for the job,” he says, his eyebrows furrowing in pity. “Two years of the five… it’s just not…” He trails off and falls silent.</p><p>You scootch forward in your chair, taking a breath – if anything, you want to try to get this job even if you have to talk to this guy for hours; there must be a reason why you’re here, and you’re not going to waste this opportunity. “I definitely see where you’re coming from, sir, but I’m also a very hard worker and –”</p><p>The guy abruptly stands up and your mouth snaps closed. You watch with a confused frown as he turns to stare out the window, burying his hands into his pockets, his back completely straight. “You know,” he starts through a sigh, staring into the distance. The office looks out over the city skyline, though it’s not as astonishing as you imagine it might look once the sun starts to set. Right now, it’s pretty much all glass and concrete, blindingly bright and undoubtedly suffocatingly <em>hot</em> in the morning sun. <em>At least there’s one thing that looks the same.</em> “It’s a tough world out there, Y/N,” he says, turning around to lean his back against the window.</p><p>He pauses, and you almost feel like he’s expecting a reply – but you don’t even know where he’s headed, and so you just nod, trying to mask your confusion with a smile.</p><p>“But, I must say, it gets tougher in here,” he adds. He crosses his arms over his chest, his jacket straining against his arms. “We’re handling big, public cases year-round, and we have a reputation to uphold, so it’s gonna be long hours. It’s why we ask for the experience– but since you seem very promising, I’m willing to make an exception for you. I just need to know if you can handle that sort of thing.”</p><p>“Uhm, yeah– yes, definitely,” you reply without giving it much thought, sitting up straighter and putting on a smile. You’ll see how you deal with it later. “I sure can.”</p><p>His smile widens and he wags his finger at you, pushing himself off the window. “Alright, I like your enthusiasm.” <em>Enthusiasm?</em></p><p>He leans over his desk to close up the folder with your resume and cover letter, and he shoves it towards a corner of his desk. “Can you start today?”</p><p>He’s already walking back towards the door, and you’re pretty sure it’s too late to tell him <em>not really, I was thinking of trying to find out where I am or what I’m doing in a blind panic for the rest of the day, sorry.</em></p><p>And so, you just nod, rising to your feet. “I’d be happy to.”</p><p>He claps his hands.  “Wonderful,” he says with a bright smile, gripping the doorknob to pull open the door and lead you back into the main office area. Soft chatter fills your ears, most workers seem to almost be falling asleep at their computers.</p><p>“Do I need to sign a contract first, or?”</p><p>Junho laughs warmly. “Ah, of course, of course, I’ll have our HR department send it to you by the end of the day, but first– hey, Seokjin!”</p><p>
  <em>Oh god.</em>
</p><p>“Junho!”</p><p>
  <em>Fuck, fuck, fuck.</em>
</p><p>Someone stands up from his desk across the office and walks towards you, weaving through the groups of desks that are littered around the large, open office space. A flash of recognition crosses his face before it turns into pure annoyance, then quickly morphs into a polite smile as he comes to a stop next to Junho.</p><p>“Could you give our newest colleague here a little tour around the office?” Junho asks, waving his hand towards you. Seokjin spares you the briefest of glances, lets out a sharp sigh. His jaw ticks with anger despite the fact that he’s smiling at his boss. “I have a meeting with the Choi team to prepare for the big hearings, so I really have to get going.”</p><p>Seokjin smiles and nods. “Of course, Junho, no problem,” he replies calmly. <em>Ass-kisser.</em></p><p>“Great, thank you!” Junho replies brightly, and you jump when he claps his hands once more. “He’s a phenomenal guy, Y/N,” he adds, turning to you. You can barely hold back a snort, plastering on a polite smile instead. “He’s been with us for five years, so if you have any questions, he’s the one to ask.” You glance at Seokjin, only to see a forced smile tugging at his lips as he nods slowly. “Well, anyway, I better get going, but I’ll see you two later, alright?”</p><p>Junho leaves without another word, abandoning you in the quiet office corner with <em>him</em>. The fucking <em>devil</em>.</p><p>He turns to look at you, you turn to him, and you can only manage to smile sarcastically. “Wonderful to see you again this morning,” you say, eyes flickering down to the coffee stain you made earlier– but he’s wearing his suit jacket now, and you can barely see a thing. <em>God fucking dammit.</em></p><p>Seokjin narrows his eyes at you as he crosses his arms. “Likewise,” he replies curtly, quietly. “I’m wondering– did you finally get sick of working the same tired job appealing parking tickets, or were you finally fired?”</p><p>You grit your teeth. “Neither,” you reply as casually as possible, straightening your back to make yourself stand just a little bit taller. “I just saw an opening and I thought, hey, maybe they need a lawyer that actually does their job– you know, instead of walking around all day trying to snatch other firms’ clients.”</p><p>That is obviously not why you’re here, but he doesn’t have to know.</p><p>He rolls his eyes. “I don’t have time for your bullshit, Y/N, I’m busy,” he snaps, turning to look at the office you’re standing in. Before you can return the sentiment, he continues, “You wanted a tour?” He sticks out his arm, gesturing wildly. “Office. Desks. Computers. People work here.”</p><p>You take a deep breath. <em>Don’t snap at him, don’t snap at him, don’t snap at him. Wait for the second day, at least. Or maybe just until after he leaves the office.</em> “Wow, really?” you manage through gritted teeth, a forced smile. “I had no idea, thank you– Seokjin, is it?”</p><p>He narrows his eyes, huffing out a sharp breath through his nose but putting on a sickly sweet smile anyway. “You’re very welcome, Y/N,” he says slowly, his voice sounding almost strained – you can’t help the feeling of victory. “Let me just show you the break room so we can get back to work, yeah?”</p><p>He doesn’t wait for an answer, his shoulder knocking into yours as he walks past you. You take a deep breath, slowly letting it back out before you whirl around to follow Seokjin to the right of the office –</p><p>“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he mutters underneath his breath, turning around and walking to the left instead, leading you all the way to the end until you arrive at a large room walled off from the rest of the office with floor-to-ceiling glass. “Right, so, break room’s over here, whatever, you’re probably not gonna be here a lot, so I’m not even sure you need to see this.”</p><p>The scent of fresh coffee and vanilla syrup drifts through the air, and you breathe in with surprise as you look around. A modern kitchenette lines the only wall that’s not breakable and two round tables are stashed away in the corner, though most of the room is taken up by a large foosball table. As with the rest of the office, the windows gaze out onto the city skyline, looking over the other skyscrapers that surround the building.</p><p>“We’ve got a fridge and stuff, I don’t fucking know –” He paces over to the cupboards above the countertop, quickly pulling one open to reveal colourful bags of snacks, granola, instant ramen, dried fruit… You hear him let out a sharp breath before he relaxes his shoulders and slams the cupboard closed; the loud bang makes you jolt as it pierces through the room, your heart stuttering.</p><p>He turns to face you once more. He seems composed– <em>mostly</em>. You can’t help but think you see surprise in his face before the usual look of annoyance returns. “Food and stuff.”</p><p>You raise an eyebrow. “We can eat all of that?”</p><p>He snorts, crossing his arms as he leans against the counter. “I don’t fucking know,” he replies with a shrug. “Most of it’s unhealthy anyway– speaking of sports, foosball table,” he quickly adds, waving towards the foosball table to your right before he crosses his arms again. “Can I get back to work now?”</p><p>You snort, glancing at it. <em>No fucking way you can. </em>“Does anyone ever use it?”</p><p>“I– listen, don’t ask me, I’m just here to get work done,” he replies through a sigh.</p><p>You narrow your eyes at him, tilting your head. There’s something jittery about him – he’s tapping his foot against the floor rapidly, drumming his fingers on his arm, looking around with such wide eyes that you’d almost think everything is <em>new </em>to him.</p><p>You already figured he’d be spending most of his workday out of the office, but… “Are you sure you’ve worked here for five years?” you tease, crossing your arms.</p><p>To be quite frank, you expected him to huff and call you an idiot like usual; you didn’t really mean to do anything other than annoy him. But when he purses his lips and his jaw ticks, his brows draw together and his gaze lowers to his feet, you can’t help but feel a pang of guilt in your chest, and immediately you try to swallow that same feeling.</p><p>He breathes out sharply, shakes his head. “I don’t have time for this,” he mutters, pushing himself off the counter. “I have work to do.”</p><p>Your eyebrows furrow and you watch for a moment as he paces towards the exit, back towards the office. You don’t exactly know <em>why</em>, you don’t exactly know if it’s just your curiosity or if there’s more to find out, but you feel the burning urge to stop him from walking out. “Hey,” you call out, rushing towards him to grab his wrist just before he can walk out, and you pull him back in.</p><p>He turns around, looks down at your hand, back up at you. He tries to pull himself free, but you tighten your grip, and his frown deepens. “What?” he snaps.</p><p><em>Yeah, what? What the hell are you gonna say now?</em> “I– you– you should answer people when they ask questions,” you stammer, straightening your shoulders and crossing your arms. Seokjin’s hand drops back to his side but he doesn’t walk away, which is progress, at least. “It’s impolite not to,” you add, keeping your chin held high.</p><p>He scoffs, an amused smile curls at his lips as he looks you up and down. “Since when are we polite to each other?”</p><p>You grit your teeth and roll your eyes. “That’s not the point, I –” You cut yourself off, heaving a sigh. “Never mind.” Turning around, you rub your eyes and walk towards the foosball table, idly tapping one of the figures with your finger to make it spin. You hear him sigh and open the door, and you poke the inside of your cheek with your tongue. “At least you’re acting like usual,” you add through a mutter.</p><p>The door slams closed, silence falls. Your heart drops but you try to swallow the feeling of unease rising up and curling up in your throat. Now that you’re alone, you can’t help but –</p><p>“What did you say?”</p><p>You jump and spin around again, your back bumping against one of the handles on the foosball table, and you wince as a dull pain stabs at your muscles. Rubbing the spot over your blouse, you look at the doorway.</p><p>Seokjin is still here. His eyes are slightly too wide, his breaths slightly too fast.</p><p>You can’t help but frown, regarding him warily for a moment. “I said never mind,” you reply with a scoff. <em>He didn’t mean the other thing, right? He couldn’t have.</em></p><p>“No, what you said after that,” he says almost frantically, staring at you as he takes a step forward.</p><p>You instinctively take a step back, the handles of the foosball table brushing your back once more. “I –” <em>Great. He’s gonna think you’re crazy.</em> “I said that at least you were acting like usual.”</p><p>Seokjin breathes out sharply, and he gapes at you.</p><p>Blinking up at him, you frown. “Why?” you inquire, wanting to know why he’s looking at you like that, yet being too scared for the answer to ask him directly.</p><p>He takes another step forward, looks around shiftily. “Everything’s changed for you, too?” he whispers.</p><p>Your heart stutters, your eyes go wide. For a moment, you’re speechless, your mouth opens and closes as you try to look for the words– hell, just a <em>sound</em> to respond. But despite the adrenaline that surges through your veins, you’re completely rigid. <em>You’re not alone. You’re not actually crazy.</em></p><p>Seokjin takes your silence as a negative. His expression hardens, he takes a step back, his hands dig into his pockets. “I –” He clears his throat, and his reaction finally seems to wake something in you, motion rushes back into your body. “Never mind, forget I said that. It’s all bullshit anyw–”</p><p>“No, no, wait, it’s– it’s not bullshit,” you blurt out hastily, taking a step forward. Seokjin stills. “Why the hell do you think I’m even here, Kim? You think I just up and quit my job on my own accord?”</p><p>His eyebrows furrow, his jaw ticks. But there’s a tension that seems to melt off of him with your words; you see it in the way his shoulders relax, the way his breathing changes just slightly. “I wouldn’t put it past you,” he mutters, and you narrow your eyes at him – his smile quickly falters. “Alright, okay, not the point.”</p><p>You raise an eyebrow at him and scoff. “Yeah.” Crossing your arms, you take a step back to lean against the foosball table – only to jump back up when the handles poke your back again.</p><p>Of course, Seokjin just <em>has</em> to notice it. And he just <em>has</em> to laugh.</p><p>“Just– out of curiosity…” you start slowly. <em>And to change the subject.</em> “What changed for you?”</p><p>He looks around again, growing jittery. While almost every desk in sight is occupied, no one so much as spares you a glance, and you assume you’re safe from eavesdroppers. “I don’t know, just… <em>everything</em>,” he mumbles in reply, and your heart starts to race again. You never thought you’d ever be this excited to hear Seokjin speak – but, evidently, crazier things have been happening today. “It’s like someone just airlifted me out of my bed and dropped me in a different <em>universe</em>. Like, different apartment, different office, different everything.”</p><p>He looks at you with a wary frown, waiting for you to respond. Perhaps waiting for you to call him crazy and storm out– but you can only let out a sharp breath, relief streaking through your veins. “Man, I really thought I was going insane, but…”</p><p>“But what?” he says through a bitter laugh, throwing his arms up. “We’re not actually crazy?” He snorts. “Oh, wait, yeah, there’s a totally logical explanation for this. Maybe the aliens finally descended down upon us and put us all in the Matrix.”</p><p>You grit your teeth, ignoring the voice in the back of your head telling you that he’s right. That this <em>doesn’t </em>mean you’re not spiralling here. “Hey, I’m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on, alright?” you shoot back nevertheless. “Don’t –”</p><p>A gentle knock on the glass door. You fall silent, and both you and Seokjin snap up to look at the entrance. A woman you’re assuming works here, too, opens the door and peeks her head inside, smiling sweetly at the two of you. You commend her for it, really – you both must look bewildered.</p><p>“Hi,” she greets, focusing her gaze on Seokjin, her cheeks flushed a gracefully subtle colour of red.</p><p>Seokjin responds with a smile. “Hyerin,” he returns, so politely it takes you by surprise. He straightens his back, adjusts his tie, and you blink at him.</p><p>“I uh… the transcripts we subpoenaed for the Anderson case are here? Junho said you guys would be sorting through them, so I thought I’d… you know…” She trails off, delicately tucking a strand of dark, glossy hair behind her ear.</p><p>
  <em>You guys?</em>
</p><p>Seokjin blinks at her, his brows furrow. “The– the Anderson –” He pauses, Hyerin simply smiles and nods until Seokjin clears his throat and smooths out his expression once more. “Right, yeah, of course,” he breathes out, plastering on a smile. “Where were they uploaded?”</p><p>“Oh, they’re downstairs,” she replies, and Seokjin’s frown deepens. “They’re holding them for you at the front desk.”</p><p>He clears his throat once more, nodding quickly. “Right, of course, uh… thank you.”</p><p>She smiles and nods in return, turning to slip back outside before she pauses and takes a breath. “Oh, just a fair warning, I heard the elevators are shut down for maintenance,” she adds with an empathetic smile, letting the door fall closed before you even get the chance to reply.</p><p>Seokjin sighs. “Well, that should be interesting.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, but what if it really is just some shared illusion?”</p><p>You’re both panting as you climb the umpteenth flight of stairs, each carrying a box of transcripts in your arms. You don’t know how Seokjin managed to pull you along on this – it’s not like you have anything better to do, but <em>still</em>.</p><p>Letting out a deep sigh, you reluctantly lift your burning leg to take another step, trying to keep up with Seokjin and his <em>stupidly</em> long legs. Like, how do they even make pants that long? How does he not look idiotic in a suit and just pulls it off so –</p><p>Not the point.</p><p>“This can’t just be an illusion,” you insist with a shake of your head, surprised you’re even managing to talk through the panting breaths you’re taking. “There’s way too many details to our environment– it can’t just be an illusion or a coma or a dream or whatever else.”</p><p>Seokjin hums, taking the last step and pushing open the door to your office. He waits for you to catch up, and you’re glad he doesn’t comment on your shitty stamina. “I don’t know, I mean, we could be <em>imagining</em> details where there aren’t any, right?” he shoots back, walking to one of the conference rooms you’ve claimed for the growing collection of transcripts. “It’s not that far-fetched.”</p><p>With a sigh, you follow him inside the conference room and plop your box on the large oval table filling up almost the entire space. “Okay, I’m just gonna go ahead and say you’re wrong.”</p><p>He raises an eyebrow as he puts down his box, and he crosses his arms instead. “And why would <em>I</em> be wrong, huh?”</p><p>With a roll of your eyes, you reach out and pinch his forearm through his sleeve– he yelps an <em>ow! </em>and jumps back, rubbing the spot. “What the hell was that for?”</p><p>“See? Real pain, not a dream.” You turn around to walk back out of the conference room because there’s <em>more boxes</em> and you think you might not be able to move again if you take a rest for longer than a second.</p><p>Seokjin sighs and follows you back out into the staircase, your footsteps echoing off the pale concrete as you make your way back down. Where you expect it to smell like dust and paint, a light lavender scent hangs in the air, as if someone accidentally left a box of air fresheners behind.</p><p>“Fine, okay, we’re not in a dream or whatever,” he huffs, catching up with you. You can’t help but smile. A small victory – but a victory nonetheless. “What do we do with that, though?” he adds. His tone sounds <em>normal</em>. Not overly, sarcastically polite, not snappy, not snarky, just… his voice. <em>He sounds nice when he’s not arguing with you on everything.</em></p><p>You clear your throat and shake your head, trying to banish the thought from your mind. <em>Gross.</em> “We just need to go through our mornings, see if we can find any similarities,” you propose, keeping your eyes on your feet as they thunder down the steps. The concrete feels cold against your feet – you took off your heels after you almost snapped your ankle in half when you were simply walking towards the stairwell. “Maybe we can get something from that.”</p><p>Seokjin is silent for a few steps, simply following you down the stairs before he clears his throat. “Okay, so what changed for you?”</p><p>You chuckle quietly as you skip the last two steps and pull open the door to the lobby. “Where to start…” you mutter, walking straight towards the front desk and sending a smile to the security guard, who simply nods as you take one of the last two boxes from behind his desk. “Well, firstly, I woke up in the fanciest apartment I think I’ve ever set foot in – airconditioning, dishwasher, the whole nine yards.”</p><p>Seokjin snorts, picking up another box and following you back towards the stairwell. You glance at the elevators from the corner of your eye, huffing when you see there’s still bright yellow tape plastered on all five double doors. “Similarity number one.”</p><p>You bite your lip, but a smile pulls at your lips nevertheless. You’re growing more relieved every step you take – because whatever the hell is happening here, at least you’ve got someone else that’s just as confused as you are. And, since that person is Seokjin, you’re more than happy to have the small side effect that he can’t be the smug asshole he always is.</p><p>“Okay, and then my roommate was all quirky and weird and she had this bigass breakfast that she didn’t even touch half of when, like, we barely have enough food in our fridge,” you add, your legs protesting as you keep ascending the stairs, your bare feet aching for some <em>goddamn</em> rest.</p><p>Seokjin hums, the soles of his shoes shuffling against the concrete stairs, the sound of his heavy breaths echoing off the walls and mixing with yours. “I don’t have a roommate or anything, but my fridge was pretty full this morning,” he says through a laugh. “Plus, my cat was a lot nicer than usual, so there’s that, I guess.”</p><p>Pursing your lips, you glance at him over your shoulder. “You have a cat?” you ask, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>He narrows his eyes at you, and your amused smile only grows. “What, you’re gonna laugh at me for having a pet?” he retorts, scoffing. “<em>Now</em>?”</p><p>With a shrug, you shake your head and bite on your lip in another failed attempt at keeping your smile at bay. “No, I just –” You can’t fight the laughter bubbling in your throat, and you giggle into the box. “I just didn’t take you for a cat owner, but I guess it makes sense.”</p><p>He pauses in the middle of a step up, watches you as you keep walking. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he returns, and you can <em>hear</em> the pout in his voice.</p><p>Shrugging once again, you send him the most innocent grin you can muster – and he just scowls. “Nothing,” you reply just as innocently. Seokjin opens his mouth and takes a breath to respond – “So anyways, I woke up unemployed and I had the job interview with Junho today, so that was pretty much it.”</p><p>His footsteps quicken as he rushes to catch up to you. “You didn’t see your office at all?”</p><p>With a hum, you shake your head, focusing on keeping the heavy box in your arms. “No, I just went here,” you reply as your feet shuffle against the cold concrete. A painful stitch stabs at your side and you wince, biting your tongue as you take another step – but it only gets worse. “Did anything change here, then?” you add through gritted teeth, glancing over your shoulder.</p><p>He scoffs, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek. “You could say that,” he mutters with a snort, glancing up at you as you lean against the wall, attempting to breathe the stitch away. “Everything got– nicer, I guess.” His nose scrunches and he looks around the stairwell, almost as if it were part of the office itself. “Like, the foosball table, the free food, the comfortable desk chairs…” With a sigh, he shakes his head, laughs quietly to himself. “And then Junho actually acknowledged people which never happens because –” You raise an eyebrow, keeping your eyes on him as he passes you on his way up. He’s smiling to himself, staring down at the box in his hands. “Well, he’s usually kind of an asshole.”</p><p>You snort, looking back down at your own box as you follow him up the stairs. “Well, maybe that’s just because you’re always out of the office trying to steal other people’s clients, and if you just –”</p><p>“Yeah, well, if you actually did some work yourself, they might not be stolen away so easily,” he snaps, picking up his pace so that you have to work just a little harder to keep up with him.</p><p>You resist the urge to leave him to handle the transcripts on his own.</p><p>“Let’s just –” He sighs. “Get back to the whole <em>figuring out where we are</em> part, yeah? We can fight again when we’re done, don’t worry.”</p><p>You roll your eyes, following him towards the door to the office. “Right,” you huff, adjusting the box in your tired arms. “So, everything got better.” Seokjin opens the door, and you trail right behind him as he walks into the conference room. You’re breathing hard and your legs are still burning, the stitch is still stabbing in your side. You feel disgusting – but when you glance at your reflection in the glass wall of the conference room, you notice look as good as you did the moment you walked out of your apartment.</p><p>“We got better apartments, your cat… was nicer to you, I got my dream job somehow…” you trail off, plopping the box on the table in the conference room. Seokjin’s brows furrow in thought and he leans against the table, crossing his arms as you fumble with the lid of the box. You don’t pay him much attention, your mind racing at a million miles an hour while you try to organise your thoughts.<em> Big apartment, dream job, perfect lives…</em></p><p>Your jaw drops and you whirl around to face him. “Oh my <em>god</em>!” you gasp, and without thinking, you slap his arm.</p><p>“Ow, Jesus!” Seokjin hisses, rubbing his arm as he cowers back slightly. “Would you stop hurting me?”</p><p>“Dude, we’re in a romcom!”</p><p>You look up at him with a victorious grin – but he just frowns, his hand still covering the spot where you hit him.</p><p>“A romcom!” you repeat just as enthusiastically, just to make sure he’s <em>heard</em> you because <em>holy shit, you’re finally having a brilliant moment</em>.</p><p>But he keeps blinking at you with that same, deeply confused expression.</p><p>You wave your hand in front of his face and he quickly shakes his head as he drops back down to earth.</p><p>“I –” He takes a breath but hesitates, letting it back out sharply. “<em>What</em>?”</p><p>“Listen, it makes so much sense,” you breathe out. You’re practically jumping up and down, your heart racing with excitement. “We woke up in a completely different world, we’re not dreaming, this isn’t some illusion, and we have <em>perfect</em> lives –” Seokjin’s frown deepens, he blinks, and you fight the urge to grab him by his <em>ridiculously</em> broad shoulders and shake him awake. “Come on, we have super nice apartments, our jobs got better, the <em>world</em> got better – life is just so… so <em>romcom</em>-like, right?”</p><p>He blinks at you again, and for a second you think you might actually have to shake him out of his daze– when he breathes out sharply, looking at the office through the glass wall. “Why the fuck does that make sense?” he mutters. His shoulders sag as he heaves a sigh, rubbing the spot between his brows.</p><p>A bright smile spreads over your features and you sigh in relief. “Right?” you return, crossing your arms.</p><p>His hand drops back down to his side and he looks up at you. “So how do we get out?”</p><p>You take a breath to respond. “I…” You pause, blink into the distance, then breathe out sharply when your mind blanks. “I’m thinking.”</p><p>He purses his lips and hums, running a hand through his dark hair. His jacket lifts just enough to reveal the dried coffee stain underneath, but you’re too occupied to comment. “We can’t Google this stuff to speed up your thinking, can we?”</p><p>You shake your head slowly and he hums once more, staring down at his feet. Silence falls for a moment and you try to rack your brain for something, <em>anything</em> that could get you out of here as soon as you can– because even though you don’t feel the urge to strangle him right <em>now</em>, you’re sure that won’t last long. Dream job or not.</p><p>“Plus, it’s not like typical romcoms involve universe hopping or something,” you add through a sigh, scratching the back of your head. You stare out of the conference room to look into the office, watching the way the sunlight falls onto the dark grey carpet, illuminates every dust particle that floats through the air. “So we probably can’t just do <em>that</em>.”</p><p>He nods quickly, chewing on his bottom lip in thought. “So we just have to come up with a somehow logical way to get out of an alternate univer– ah, no, a fucking <em>movie</em>.”</p><p>You can’t help but snort. “Yeah, sounds easy enough,” you say, raising an eyebrow at him. “We should be out in, what, ten minutes?”</p><p>“Shut up and focus,” Seokjin says through a snort, rolling his eyes. With a smile, you purse your lips and nod firmly, gesturing for him to continue – he narrows his eyes at you, but sighs sharply. “Assuming that we’re characters in this… whatever,” he continues slowly, “We woke up here when the romcom started.”</p><p>You nod, your eyebrows furrowing. “Yeah, so?”</p><p>“Then… to go back home, the romcom just has to <em>end</em>, right?”</p><p>Your heart skips a beat and your eyes widen, you start to nod frantically because – “Holy shit, that’s it!” you exclaim, clapping your hands. Seokjin winces almost out of reflex, covers his bicep with his hand and you quickly compose yourself, crossing your arms tightly. “I mean, uh –” You clear your throat and shift your weight on your feet. “Yeah. Good thinking, I guess,” you add hastily, rubbing your nose.</p><p>A small grin curls at his lips and he raises an eyebrow because <em>yes, you really did just kind of compliment him a little bit.</em> “Well, you know, someone has to be the smart one around here.”</p><p>You let out a slow breath, rolling your eyes and gritting your teeth in an attempt to keep down the annoyance that’s already bubbling in the pit of your stomach. You turn to the nearest box of files and take off the top, huffing out when you see it’s filled to the brim with thick manila folders.</p><p>“How long do romcoms usually take, anyway?”</p><p><em>Ah. Shit.</em> You suddenly forget the annoyance and frustration, and discomfort settles heavily in your chest. “I mean…” You pause, your eyes flutter closed as you put down the top of the box. Staring at the dark cardboard, you let out a sharp breath, shaking your head. “Some can take weeks, some can take months, some can take –”</p><p>“<em>Months?</em>” he interrupts. You look up at him, noticing his eyes are wide. “We’re gonna be stuck here for <em>months</em>?”</p><p>Your face contorts as you nod slowly. “Maybe years,” you add as gently as you can manage, and Seokjin’s lips part in disbelief. “It all depends on the plot, you know.”</p><p>He lets out a long groan, burying his face in his hands as he shakes his head frantically. “Listen, we can’t stay here for <em>years</em>, okay?” he breathes out, lifting his head to look at you. “Hell, we can barely afford to stay here longer than a day– I might be losing my real job as we speak.”</p><p>You sigh. “Hey, I’m right there with you,” you return, rubbing your forehead – though a deep frown remains etched into the spot between your brows, and your entire body feels tense. “But I mean… what can we do?” you huff, trying to ignore the voice in the back of your head taunting you, saying over and over again that <em>who knows, maybe you’re stuck here forever.</em></p><p>He sighs in exasperation, running a hand through his hair. “Can’t we try to speed it up somehow?” he asks as his arm drops back down to his side. His words are dripping with annoyance, frustration, anger, and for a second you think he’s angry with <em>you</em>. “Like, just figure out who needs to get with who and get on with it?”</p><p>He looks at you, expectant. And no matter how badly you want to prove some kind of point by offering the golden strategy that’ll get you out by the end of the day– <em>you don’t have anything.</em></p><p>Biting your lip, you turn back to the box of folders, absently fumbling with the top file. “I –” You let out a sigh, trying to dig something up that’ll at least get you a step further. “We should figure out what our roles are first,” you say finally, chewing on your bottom lip in thought. You look up at him, only to see him lean against the table with a frown. “There’s only a limited number of characters in a romcom – it shouldn’t be hard to figure out who we are.”</p><p>His frown fades subtly, and he nods slowly. “Right,” he mutters, letting out a sigh. “Okay. That sounds doable.” He averts his eyes for a moment as he thinks on it, tracing his finger along the cardboard box closest to him. “So you’ve got two main characters, and then…” he trails off, tentatively looking at you from the corner of his eye.</p><p>You hum and nod. “There’s at least one best friend for each main character,” you start, leaning your hip against the table. “Maybe a sassy colleague that throws you a few lines from across the break room, and then the rest just… kinda depends on the plot, I guess.”</p><p>He lets out a sigh and nods. “Right, so we’ve got very clear options.”</p><p>You try to tell yourself he’s not trying to piss you off this time, but you can’t help but roll your eyes, you can’t help the annoyance rising yet again. “Listen, Kim, I wanna get us out of here as much as you do,” you snap, turning back to the box and starting to empty it out, plopping the heavy piles of folders onto the dark wooden table. “So will you tone down the asshole, for fuck’s sake?”</p><p>He breathes out sharply, turning to a box and doing the same. His movements are curt, almost aggressive. “Well, guess that makes us even for the coffee, huh?” he shoots back lowly, tugging at the hem of his jacket.</p><p>With a heavy thud, you drop a stack of files on the table. “Jesus Christ, seriously? You’re comparing <em>that</em> to –” You interrupt yourself, leaning your hands on the table and trying to breathe in and out slowly. He’s not getting a rise out of you. Especially not now. “Not the point,” you huff, opening your eyes again to see him staring at you, an eyebrow raised. “If we’re going with romcom logic, you’re obviously the hot male lead. I just don’t know who I –”</p><p>“Obviously, huh?”</p><p>You glare at him, but he simply leans against the table with a smug smile stretched across his face. Although the tips of his ears seem to be growing a light red – something you’re sure you’re imagining – his eyes are twinkling with mischief, and you scowl. “Gloat about it to your cat, you narcissist.”</p><p>He just shrugs, his grin unfaltering and it’s just so <em>frustrating</em>.</p><p>“<em>Anyways</em>,” you add with gritted teeth. “So we’re obviously not –” You wave your hand back and forth between your chest and his. “The <em>pairing</em>,” you finish, your face contorting in disgust.</p><p>He snorts, shaking his head. “Yeah, no shit.”</p><p><em>Finally, something we can agree on.</em> “You’ve probably already seen or talked to your love interest somehow,” you continue, turning back to the box to take out the rest of the files. “So tell me about everyone you met this morning– baristas, colleagues… other cat owners.”</p><p>He narrows his eyes at you, though he ignores the small jab and keeps emptying out the box instead. “I didn’t get the chance to text anyone this morning since… you know, I was kinda coping with parallel universe shock,” he says through a snort, tossing one empty box onto the ground and pulling another one towards him. “The baristas were pretty busy when I got my coffee, and I did say hi to the security guard in the lobby but he’s not really my type,” he adds with a small smile curling at his lips, shoving the piles of transcripts to the other side of the table so he can take out more from the second box.</p><p>You nod slowly, carefully taking out the last pile of folders from your box before putting it with his discarded one.</p><p>“And I think that’s –” He stops in his tracks, taking in a sharp breath as he drops a new pile of transcripts on the table. “Wait, wait, wait, there was this girl!” he exclaims, whirling around to face you.</p><p>You perk up and raise your eyebrows at him, leaning closer as you feel your heart skipping with excitement. “What’s with this girl?”</p><p>“Hyerin– she’s uh… she’s the girl from the break room.” Seokjin’s eyebrows furrow and he bites his lip, scratching the back of his head. “I only really knew her face before today, but we made some small talk in the elevator and she’s been smiling at me from across the office all morning.”</p><p>Your eyes widen. “Dude, that could be it,” you breathe out. Seokjin’s expression clears up, and a small, hopeful smile breaks through his scowl. “Okay, then we’ve got the main couple,” you decide, nodding to yourself as you cross your arms. “So if we wanna speed things up, we just need to run you guys through the three acts as fast as possible.”</p><p>“Three– three wh–” He blinks at you, his brows knit together. “What the hell kind of acts are you talking about?”</p><p>An amused grin pulls at your lips. “Well, romcoms are movies, so there’s acts to get through,” you reply, crossing your arms. Seokjin’s frown only deepens, and your amusement only grows. “Act one, the couple meets and gets together; act two, they’re torn apart for some reason; act three, they kiss and make up, or vice versa – and <em>bam</em>!” You clap your hands – Seokjin jumps but stays quiet, and you suppress the laughter bubbling in your throat. “The romcom ends.”</p><p>“Ah, right, that’s all so simple,” Seokjin returns with a sigh, turning back to the boxes. “We should be out in, what, a few days?”</p><p>You snort, waving his words away. “Don’t worry about that, everything’s simplified in romcoms,” you reply, and Seokjin looks up at you with a frown – you ignore his confusion. “For now, we just need to create a good opportunity for you guys to flirt and set a date,” you add, pausing for a moment as you realise the full implications of those words, and you pull a face in disgust. “Oh god, I’m gonna have to watch you <em>flirt</em>,” you mutter, mock gagging.</p><p>He simply snorts. “I’ll have you know I’m an amazing flirt, thank you very much,” he shoots back, keeping his chin held high.</p><p>You just pull another face at that, shaking your head. “Well, I guess it’s good to know you’re putting effort into something for once in your life.”</p><p>His smile dissipates in an instant and he sighs, shaking his head as he turns back to the transcripts in front of him. “So what are you supposed to be, huh?” he asks, his voice sharp as he plops stacks upon stacks of folders onto the table. “Some character that keeps annoying people to death?”</p><p>You scoff. “I don’t fucking know,” you snap, keeping your eyes focused on the papers you’re trying to keep in neat stacks, just hoping he doesn’t see the way your cheeks heat, the way your muscles tighten. Because what if you’re <em>not</em> part of whatever romcom Seokjin has ended up in? What if your romcom has barely even started and Seokjin gets to leave, and you’re forced to stay for weeks, months, years longer? Even worse, what if you’re just some designated side character appearing in story after story, never getting to leave?</p><p>You bite your tongue, trying to push the thoughts from your mind. They’re just worst-case scenarios. You don’t know if they’re true, you can’t know that– and so you just have to hold onto the hope that you’re somehow tied to Seokjin here. You got here with him, didn’t you? If he gets to leave, you should get to leave with him, too.</p><p>“I’m either part of your plotline or I’m not,” you tell him firmly, avoiding eye contact. “I’ll figure out which of the two it is.”</p><p>He hums, nods slowly as silence falls, and even that silence makes you so uncomfortable that you want to break it right away.</p><p>“Who the fuck knows,” you add with a sigh. “Maybe I’ll trip over a love interest in no time.”</p><p>Seokjin snorts. “Just make sure not to spill any liquids on him, yeah?”</p><p>You can’t help but sigh and roll your eyes. “Let’s just get started on this shit before I actually throw you out the window, hm?” you mutter, tossing another box to the floor and pulling back a chair. There are still three boxes left to unpack, but you really feel like pretending to be hyperfocused on reading whatever transcript is in front of you so you don’t have to say another word to Seokjin.</p><p>He just keeps unpacking. “Do you even know what you’re looking for?” he adds. He sounds like he’s teasing you, and you grit your teeth as you let out a sigh.</p><p>But unfortunately for you, you can’t reply with anything but, “Does it matter?”</p><p>You can see his smug grin from the corner of your eye as he leans over to the corner of the table and snatches a see-through folder, plopping it in front of you. “I know it’s a fake job, but you might wanna use the practice.”</p><p>You bite down on your tongue hard but you ignore the sharp pain it causes, harshly flipping open the folder. “Go fuck yourself, Kim.”</p><p>And of course, his grin remains unfaltering. “You’re very welcome, Y/N.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“Are you double sure we’re supposed to do this with just two people?”</p><p>You rub your tense forehead as you <em>finally</em> close the first transcript and push it aside. With a sigh, you stare at the piles and piles of folders you’re yet to read through, and you’re tempted to just give up. <em>It’s all fake anyway.</em></p><p>Seokjin snorts, glancing up from his own folder, his pen hovering just above the paper. “What, did you think we just sit at our desks and look pretty all day?” he returns, diverting his gaze back to the transcript he’s reading. “We do have actual work to do, you know.”</p><p>With a huff, you roll your eyes at him, grabbing a folder from the stack in front of you and flipping it open. “Wow, I never would’ve guessed,” you mutter.</p><p>Seokjin sighs heavily and slams his pen to the table. “Do you ever…” He gestures into your direction, and you try to keep your proud smile at bay as you look up to face him. “You know, turn down the asshole?” he huffs. “Or is that part of your character or something?”</p><p>You raise an eyebrow at him, unfazed. “Naw, did I hit a nerve?” you taunt, snickering when he sighs in exasperation and picks up his pen once more, shaking his head. “I was just trying to make conversation, Kim.”</p><p>He scoffs, fumbling with the corner of the paper. “Well, hate to tell ya, but I think you might just be the worst conversationalist I’ve ever met.”</p><p>You carefully underline a sentence in the transcript and scribble something onto the notepad to your right. “Well, flirt your way out of this universe and I’ll see if I can turn up the nice, hm?”</p><p>A sharp breath out. His pen hits the table again before he abruptly rises to his feet. “Fine,” he replies curtly. With an amused smile, you raise an eyebrow at him, your eyes flickering down to his hand as he pulls at the hem of his suit jacket once more, then adjusts the tie that hangs neatly around his neck. “But I’ll have you know that I don’t give a fuck whether you turn up the nice or not, I just wanna get out of here,” he insists, rearranging a few strands of hair while barely changing the overall look of it.</p><p>You snort. “Uh-huh, of course,” you return, watching with an amused smile as he pulls at his collar to straighten it, takes a deep breath in, lets it back out, and slips out of the room without saying another word.</p><p>Heaving a sigh, you lean back in your chair, tapping the back of your pen against the paper. A sudden and unexpected wave of nerves washes over you, settling in a tight ball in the pit of your stomach. You frown down at your pen, absently chewing on your bottom lip and shifting in your seat, trying to shake the tension from your muscles. They just won’t relax, though, and you look around the room almost nervously.</p><p>As much as you want to feel happy to be here, to have ended up in some magical, perfect romcom universe, to <em>finally</em> have landed your dream job somehow, you feel uneasy. Like you don’t belong here.</p><p>
  <em>You don’t, really.</em>
</p><p>Your gaze drifts towards the office. Almost automatically, your eyes fall on Seokjin, who is leaning against a desk by the window, chatting with the girl sitting in the desk chair in front of him. His body blocks out her face, but you can see her shoulders shake with laughter – and when she finally leans back in her seat, there’s a bright smile curling at her lips. The sun breaks through the tinted office windows and falls on Seokjin’s white shirt, making him almost blindingly bright to look at. You scowl.</p><p>
  <em>This universe is too fucking obvious.</em>
</p><p>Tearing your eyes away from the scene before the image is permanently burned into your vision, you focus on reading the transcript, trying to rid yourself of the growing ball of nerves in your stomach. It’s a slow process – you can barely get yourself to focus for longer than a sentence.</p><p>You’re finally turning the page when the smell of coffee drifts into the room. You lift your head to see Seokjin waltz through the doorway, wearing the smug grin you’ve grown to despise so much, and the nerves are quickly replaced with that familiar sense of annoyance.</p><p>“I’m back,” he announces as if you haven’t been able to deduct that yourself, and he flutters down into the chair next to you. He sets two colourful mugs on the dark brown conference table, and steam wafts up from the mugs into the air.</p><p>You frown at the coffee but you don’t comment, nor do you thank him. Instead, you raise your eyebrows in question, watching as he silently leans back. “So are you gonna tell me how it went, or…?” you all but snap, impatiently drumming your fingers on the table.</p><p>He looks up at you, his face completely blank, and the ball of nerves returns, tightens involuntarily. “Oh, you mean the whole ‘flirting my way into another universe’ thing?” he asks. A smile breaks through his poker face before he quickly averts his eyes, grabbing his pen and leaning over the folder on the table.</p><p>Nevertheless, you can see him trying to hide his smile, and the nerves start to dissipate yet again.</p><p>“No, I was asking if you survived the journey to the break room– of course I’m talking about the flirting thing, you idiot,” you huff.</p><p>He looks up at you with an ever-growing grin. “Well, I don’t usually kiss and tell, but…” he trails off, letting a short silence fall.</p><p>You raise your eyebrows at him, leaning back in your seat and crossing your arms. The way he’s grinning at you reminds you of each and every time he walked out of your firm’s lobby with yet another client, and you feel like strangling the guy – again. Until –</p><p>“She asked me out.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“... and we should do some research about where you guys are going while we’re at it, because honestly you can make or break a date just by picking the right location– I’ll look up a few romcoms to check how they went about their first dates, just to increase our chances, you know? And then we can…”</p><p>You know you’re rambling. You know you’re practically hopping up and down in your chair, barely eating anything of the food that’s stalled out on the adjacent desks you’re sitting at – but you don’t exactly care, either.</p><p>The both of you came to the <em>appalling </em>conclusion that you should stay after work, to brainstorm without colleagues walking around to hear you, because he’s supposed to go out with this girl <em>tomorrow</em>, and only because the idiot had half the mind not to offer to take her out tonight. To do yourselves a favour, though, you’ve decided to leave the stuffy conference room for the day and settle down at your desks, which just so <em>happen</em> to be next to each other.</p><p>And now, you can’t stop talking.</p><p>“Oh, oh!” You take a sip of your umpteenth cup of coffee of the day, poking your food with your chopsticks. “You have to remember to bring a jacket you can give her or something, I’m pretty sure that really helps in speeding things along. Romcom characters have this thing for smelling clothes and stuff,” you add, stuffing some food into your mouth. “I think it’s a bonding thing.”</p><p>He hums, focusing on eating his food as you take a breath to continue –</p><p>“What if I just… went on the date?”</p><p>You pause in the middle of your breath. Your lips part, you avert your eyes to think his words over. “Well, I mean –” You pause again, brows furrowing.</p><p>“It worked with the flirting,” he says with a shrug, sitting up in his chair to take your mug from you. “And I really think you’ve had enough coffee for the day,” he adds, laughing softly and you’d almost smile back– almost.</p><p>You reach out to take back your coffee, taking a loud, defiant sip from the lukewarm drink. “Why, are my ideas too good?”</p><p>He snorts. “Well, there is that, of course,” he starts, taking your coffee from you again and you roll your eyes. <em>Fine.</em> You don’t like caffeine that much anyway. “But you haven’t cursed me out in at least five minutes and I’m getting seriously worried about your mental state.”</p><p>You’re sure there’s an insult hidden in there somewhere, but you don’t care to dwell on it. “Whatever,” you return with a huff, rolling your eyes. “The thing is, if you just go on the date without any sort of preparation, it might take a lot longer to get any success.”</p><p>“The fact that you have <em>that </em>little trust in my capacity to date women concerns me,” Seokjin replies, taking a sip from your coffee. His face contorts and he coughs as he puts the mug back on the table – “Jesus, this is disgusting. Don’t you put any sugar in this?”</p><p>You narrow your eyes at him, deciding not to comment on his <em>blatant</em> theft. “Whether or not I think you can date a real life woman is a whole different question, Kim,” you huff, stealing your coffee back and throwing it back in its entirety before he can take it from you again. “Romcom dates are never <em>just</em> dates, you moron.”</p><p>“Ah, there we go, at least we’re back to normal,” he says with a grin, leaning back in his seat as he sips from his water. You roll your eyes, putting your empty mug back onto the desk. “I’m curious, though, what are your credentials?” he adds, tilting his head at you. “Like, what makes you think you know this universe so well?”</p><p>You can’t help but grin as you lean back yourself. “Why, I do fancy myself a bit of a… romcom expert, if you will,” you reply with a casual shrug, picking up your own glass of water and taking a sip.</p><p>He looks at you with an amused smile, one eyebrow raised. “Meaning, you spend way too much of your free time watching romcoms?”</p><p>Your face falls. Pointedly, you put your glass back on the desk. “You better be glad I’m not splashing this in your face, Kim,” you return, nodding to the water as you pick up a container of sweet and sour chicken. “Just because you have no free time doesn’t mean you need to bully me for how I spend mine,” you add, stuffing some of the food into your mouth.</p><p>Seokjin scoffs and pokes at some fried rice. “Yeah, well,” he mutters, putting it down to take another sip of his water. “Let’s just get a move-on on this date thing, I don’t wanna stay longer than I have to.”</p><p>You frown at him, tilting your head. “What, no snarky comeback?” you tease, picking up the empty coffee mug to look into it. “Did I accidentally put some of that peace juice in there?”</p><p>His face contorts in disgust. “Is that why it tasted so bad?” he returns and you can’t help but laugh– you quickly compose yourself and cover it up with a cough. The damage has already been done, though; Seokjin smiles to himself as he focuses on his food, moving around his rice with a spoon.</p><p>With a sigh, you lean back, staring up at the ceiling. Your eyes are aching, your fingers feel stiff as you rub your face, and you let your tired eyes flutter closed for just a moment. The transcript pages seem almost burnt into your vision, and the letters float in front of you.</p><p>“Fuck,” you mutter, dropping your hands back into your lap. “I’m exhausted and this was just the <em>movie</em> version,” you huff as you sit up, rubbing your eyes before remembering you put on makeup this morning and quickly pulling away, wiping underneath your eyes to check if any black pigment sticks to your fingertips. Of course, there’s nothing there – and when you look at your reflection in your dark desktop monitor, you see your makeup still looks the same as it has all day. <em>There’s one of the many perks of a romcom universe – magical setting spray.</em></p><p>“That’s King and Wang for ya,” Seokjin replies with a laugh. When you turn to look at him, you notice his smile doesn’t quite reach the rest of his face like his stupid little grins usually do. Your eyebrows furrow and you tilt your head, taking a breath to ask him what– “Now just tell me about this romcom date shit, will you?”</p><p>You pause, narrowing your eyes at his swift change of topic, but you decide to ignore it. “Why, I thought you just wanted to go on the date, but– you actually want my help?” you tease. A smug grin spreads across your face, and you cross your arms over your chest as you lean back in your chair. “Mister ‘I know how to get with women’? <em>Asking for advice</em>?”</p><p>He rolls his eyes and snorts. “You done?”</p><p>“Never really,” you reply with a smile, sitting up in your seat and clearing your throat. “But anyways, the date– I think the easiest thing we can do is change your look.”</p><p>Seokjin blinks and gasps dramatically, putting a hand to his chest. “Excuse me, my <em>looks</em> aren’t good enough for you now?” he breathes out, and you can’t help but laugh in amusement.</p><p>“Well, I mean…” You can’t lie – Seokjin has always looked <em>really</em> fucking good. It’s something that bothers you to no avail; the injustice that such an annoying person could have such good genes that you just want to stare at him all day instead of arguing. “They could be… <em>enhanced</em>.”</p><p>He narrows his eyes at you. “How?”</p><p>You snicker. “Oh, <em>now </em>you’re interested?” After another glare, you hold up your hands in surrender, picking up your chicken and your chopsticks again. “Biggest things– pull up your sleeves, undo the first button of your collar and loosen your tie a little bit.” He frowns, putting his food down and slowly moving to unbutton his wrist cuffs to push up his sleeves. He doesn’t look away from you, a wary look in his eye. “Oh, and try to make your hair look a little messier than usual, but not, like… unkempt,” you add, waving your chopsticks at him.</p><p>“That’s– really specific,” he says slowly, his eyebrows furrowed as he moves on to his collar, briefly fumbling with his tie before he undoes the top button.</p><p>You simply shrug, watching as he tugs at his collar to keep it straight, and you smile in amusement. “And true.”</p><p>He scowls at you, looking at his desktop monitor as he pops his collar. He snickers at his reflection. “How about this? Is this extra hot?” he jokes, turning to you.</p><p>You snort, barely managing <em>not</em> to choke on your food. “You’re an idiot.”</p><p>He grins, his eyes glittering with unabashed joy in the low office lighting and for a split second, for just the briefest of moments, you can almost feel your heart stutter, you can almost –</p><p>You quickly adjust, tearing your eyes away from him.</p><p>“Listen, some people think it looks cool,” Seokjin tries in defense, turning back to the monitor to fix his collar.</p><p>You look down at your food, laughing. “Yeah, I think that’s just you,” you return, taking another bite as you see him dishevelling his hair from the corner of your eye. “Or maybe just morons in general.”</p><p>He scoffs and ignores your insult, sitting back as he keeps messing with his hair. “How’s this?”</p><p>You look up and let out a surprised laugh, your eyes widening as you notice the way his hair is sticking up at all angles; whatever product he’s put in there is clearly not helping him right now. “Oh my god, no, that’s way too much,” you reply through more laughter, and he huffs theatrically. “You’re just gonna make her laugh at you.”</p><p>With a grin, he turns back to his monitor and squints at it as he rearranges some of the strands– but he only makes it worse. “Well, that is kind of the goal here,” he replies, turning back to you. One of the strands of his hair is standing completely upright, and a stupidly proud smile pulls at his lips. “Better?”</p><p>“Jesus, are you planning to make contact with the ISS on this date?” you say through a laugh, putting away your food and rolling your chair forward until your knees bump into his. “Can I?”</p><p>He nods, slumping forward slightly so his hair is more accessible, and you reach out to flatten the antenna on the top of his head. “You do realise you’re getting rid of my emergency line here, right? What if we end up in the middle of nowhere and our phones die?”</p><p>You scoff, narrowing your eyes as you smooth out the other stray strands that are pointing at the ceiling. “Where exactly are you planning on taking this poor girl?” you ask as you gently run your fingers through his soft– his <em>normal</em>-feeling hair to dishevel it more subtly.</p><p>He laughs. “I don’t know, maybe we’ll feel spontaneous,” he replies, amusement dripping off his every word.</p><p>“Well, if you do somehow end up there, you can just fold it out again and contact Houston, hm?” you conclude, leaning back to admire your work. “There we go, that’s a lot better.”</p><p>He turns to look at his reflection, turning his face to the left, the right, pulling at his collar again. “So this is what a romcom lead looks like, huh?” he remarks, staring at the monitor as he runs his fingers over his hair in small, unobtrusive taps. “Overworked and unprofessional?”</p><p>“It suits you,” you return with a teasing grin, crossing your arms over your chest – Seokjin just glares at you. “What? You gonna tell me I’m wrong?”</p><p>“I’m gonna tell you you’re an asshole,” he says, pointedly picking his food back up and putting his feet up on your seat right next to your legs.</p><p>Scowling down at them, you shove them off, wiping down your chair even though it really doesn’t look dirty. “Do make sure to tell your girl that, she’ll really appreciate it,” you shoot back, sinking into your seat.</p><p>He just laughs. “Oh, don’t worry, I already know how I’m gonna date my way out of this universe, Y/N,” he returns, chewing on his fried rice. With a scoff, you look down at your own food, poking at a piece of chicken. “Now as to how <em>you’re</em> gonna get out…”</p><p>He says it so teasingly, so smugly that you roll your eyes out of reflex. But to be quite frank, you’ve been wondering the exact same thing all day; Seokjin is already well on his way to the exit, and you feel like you might just be left behind looking for your door back home. <em>Without him, the situation might be more bearable</em>, you think to yourself. <em>You might enjoy yourself here.</em></p><p>Begrudgingly, though, you have to admit that you doubt it.</p><p>“I don’t know, it’ll come,” you mumble, shrugging quietly.</p><p>“So what does the typical female romcom lead look like, then? Do you just –” He leans forward, his hand reaching for your hair before you slap it away, and he laughs. “What? I’m just trying to help here.”</p><p>“Yeah, sure, antenna boy,” you reply with a snort, though you can’t help the smile that curls at your lips. You’re almost flattered at the fact that he’s assuming you’re the lead of your own romcom – you would be, really, if you weren’t so unsure about it, if the mere thought of that uncertainty didn’t make you even more uncomfortable. Nevertheless, it’s sweet of him, to just –</p><p>Of course, he’s probably only doing it to bully you. You shouldn’t read into it so much.</p><p>You roll your shoulders and sit up straighter, shaking your head to push the thoughts from your mind. “Office romcoms like this? If I’m really part of the main couple, I’m probably gonna have to put my hair into one of those really tight low ponytails and wear a pantsuit or something.”</p><p>Seokjin huffs and slumps in his seat. “Why do you get to dress professionally and I don’t?” he almost whines, and you laugh in amusement.</p><p>“Because female romcom leads have to be uptight at the start so they can be loosened up by whatever guy they fall in love with,” you reply, tapping your temple with your index. “It’s Hollywood science, Kim.”</p><p>He makes a gagging sound, stuffing more food into his mouth. His cheeks bulge like a hamster as he chews, and you’d almost find it cute– if he didn’t start talking with his mouth still full. “Sound logic,” he manages to say, nodding slowly. “Very scientific.”</p><p>“Ah, of course, I’m also gonna need to be unnaturally clumsy and trip over something at least once a day,” you add, stuffing some chicken into your mouth. “I’m bound to bump into some kind of love interest that way.” <em>If I even have one.</em></p><p>Seokjin snorts. “Just make sure you don’t trip on me again, eh?” he teases, studying whatever is left of his food. “I don’t have an unlimited supply of white dress shirts.”</p><p>You scoff. “In this universe? Yes, you fucking do.”</p><p>With a laugh, he leans back in his chair, one eyebrow raised in amusement. “Alrighty, then,” he says, stirring his food in the container – you can’t help but notice the grin pulling at his lips. “Spill away, I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>When you walk into a café near your office building the next day, you immediately notice the overly cheerful smiles on the faces around you. It’s the middle of yet another hot afternoon, and even though it’s supposed to be lunch rush hour right about now, there aren’t very many customers inside. The space is small, the tables are pressed so close together that you can barely see a path towards the counter. Large booths line each side, pressed up against the enormous windows that look out onto the street, and soft chatter drifts through the small café. You’re more than grateful for the airconditioning, but you’re sweating your ass off nevertheless – even five minutes in the hot summer sun has overheated you to the point where you’re <em>craving</em> something ice cold, and you push your way towards the counter.</p><p>“Oh my gosh, Y/N!”</p><p>You blink for a moment at Sooyeon’s cheerful greeting, your cooked brain trying to catch up to reality before you manage to plaster on a smile. “Hey, I –” Your mouth slams closed just before you can comment that you didn’t know she worked here – since you’re probably supposed to know that already. “It’s nice to see you!” you reply instead.</p><p>“You too!” she replies with a smile, pulling a to-go cup from the stack next to the cash register. “The usual, I’m guessing?”</p><p>
  <em>Should you ask?</em>
</p><p>You nod and smile. “Of course,” you reply, hoping to <em>god</em> that your fictional past self has made some good choices when it comes to coffee orders. “How’ve you been?”</p><p>“Ah, you know, same old,” Sooyeon replies with a smile, scribbling something onto your cup with a thick black marker before she hands it to the barista next to her. “Jessica dropped by today, by the way,” she adds as she rings up your order, and you swear you can see her cheeks grow a shade redder.</p><p>You raise an eyebrow, an amused smile pulling at your lips. “Did she?” you return, handing her some cash before she can even tell you how much it is. Sooyeon nods, smiles shyly as she stuffs the money into the drawer and hands you back your change. You can’t help but wonder if she’s got her own romcom story going, too. “Did you talk to her?”</p><p>Sooyeon sputters and laughs, shaking her head as you slowly walk to the other end of the counter to wait for your drink. “Dear god, no, I’ve already embarrassed myself enough in front of her,” she replies, smoothing out her apron. “I think the cheesecake incident taught us all more than enough.”</p><p>A smile curls at your lips as you walk backwards towards the end of the counter. You’re aching to hear more about the cheesecake incident, but you’ll fish for the story when you’re both home later. “Well, let me know if she comes ba–” You breathe out sharply when you stumble into someone’s side, and you quickly whirl around, opening your mouth to blurt out an apology when –</p><p>“Nara?”</p><p>Your friend looks up at you from her phone and she blinks at you, her eyebrows furrowed deeply. “What?” she returns, snappy and snarly and you frown. Her clothes are uncharacteristically dark – a black and white blouse, a tight, dark pencil skirt, black heels, her wavy hair tied back into a tight ponytail. It’s unmistakably Nara – but she doesn’t look like herself.</p><p>“I– I’ve been trying to reach you,” you breathe out. Her frown just deepens, and the brief sense of relief you felt turns into nervousness. “Where have you been? Did you change your number or something?”</p><p>She blinks again for a moment, and she scoffs indignantly. “Why are you even trying to reach me?” she returns, taking a step back. “Did you finally start second-guessing your whole ‘I need to focus on work’ thing?”</p><p>Your heart drops. You wonder– scratch that, you hope to all hell that she’s joking, but you can’t get yourself to ask. Because you know what answer you’ll get, and you’re not sure you want to hear it.</p><p>Nara snorts, looks up as someone calls her name and puts out her coffee. “Thought so,” she mutters, brushing past you to pick up her coffee from the counter. “Bye.”</p><p>You bite down on your tongue so hard that tears jump into your eyes, and you blink fast to try to get them away. “Bye,” you whisper after her as she walks out. Distantly, you hear someone call out your name and your coffee order, but you barely register it, you barely register anything but the deep discomfort tightening in your chest, the invisible weight pressing on your shoulders.</p><p>
  <em>God, you wish you were home.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You take a slow sip from your water, flipping the page of some three-year-old deposition transcript that reads like someone spilled a thesaurus onto a page and didn’t even try to make sense of anything. Seokjin is silently reading next to you, drumming his fingers on the table as his eyes scan the page. He frowns, squints at the paper, pulls at his tie to loosen it for just a moment before he puts it back into place, taking a sip of his coffee. It’s late, and the conference room is quiet, much like the rest of the office; not everyone has left just yet, though, and there’s the occasional ringing of a phone, a muted sneeze breaking through the glass walls that separate you from everyone else.</p><p>Despite the peace and quiet, though, your head is aching and your shoulders feel as heavy as they did when Nara left you behind in the coffee shop mere hours ago. With a deep sigh, you rub your forehead and glance at your phone, pressing the home button to make the screen flash on – <em>6:36 PM.</em> You should be at home eating dinner, gorging on ice cream to bury the tight feeling in your chest, almost falling asleep on your <em>giant</em> couch.</p><p>But here you are, still filing through piles and piles of transcripts in search of some golden piece of evidence that will secure a win.</p><p>Chewing on your lip, you heave another sigh and turn back to the deposition, trying to keep your tired eyes from falling closed. It barely works– but you can’t even get them to focus in the first place, so it’s wasted energy either way.</p><p>Seokjin clears his throat, shifts in his seat. You can see him looking at you from the corner of your eye and you try to ignore him, rubbing your forehead once more – but his stare keeps burning into you, and you huff.</p><p>“Something in my hair?”</p><p>Seokjin taps his pen against the table, shrugs. “Just wondering why you’ve been so quiet.”</p><p>You roll your eyes, sitting back in your seat and looking up at him, your eyebrows raised. “Been able to read my mind yet?”</p><p>He laughs softly, covers it up with a cough. “No, I was just thinking I might ask.”</p><p>“Well, I’m fine, don’t worry,” you reply quickly, way too quickly to sound even remotely believable.</p><p>He leans forward, his elbows resting on the table as he twirls his pen between his fingers. “Did something happen at lunch?”</p><p>Your heart skips a beat. <em>Does this guy actually read minds or something? </em>“What makes you think something happened at lunch?” you retort defensively, straightening your back. <em>Why does he even want to talk about this? It’s not like he cares.</em></p><p>He shrugs. His eyes are focused on his pen, and you’ll admit that the lack of eye contact makes it easier. Less direct, less… intense. “Well, you came back here with this scowl that even the airconditioning couldn’t fix– that, and you haven’t called me a moron in a while, so… I kinda put two and two together.”</p><p>With a sigh, you look down at the deposition, the letters practically dancing around on the page. “Well, congrats on the math.”</p><p>He snorts, shifts in his seat. The chair creaks as he moves. “So what happened?”</p><p>You hum and shrug, tracing random figures onto the paper with your index finger. “I bumped into Nara. She’s from back –”</p><p>“I know who she is.”</p><p>You bite your lip, your breath turns shaky even though you’re trying hard to control it.</p><p>“She’s got a good glare,” Seokjin remarks, and you can hear his smile through his words. You’re not quite sure if that was supposed to be comforting, but you can’t help but smile at the thought of Nara glaring him out of the office.</p><p>“Yeah, I got one of those today,” you say through a sigh, still avoiding Seokjin’s eyes as you scratch behind your ear.</p><p>He’s quiet for a moment. “What do you mean?”</p><p>You sigh once more, chewing on your bottom lip. “Apparently, we hate each other in this universe because I cut off contact with her.” You’re blinking fast, frantically tapping your fingers to the paper. “So, yeah, that doesn’t really feel great.”</p><p>Silence. Your fingers keep tapping the paper, you keep chewing on your lip as you try to push the memory from your mind, as you try to remind yourself – “She’s not the real Nara, though, so I guess I shouldn’t be feeling so bad,” you add hastily, letting out a sigh. “I’ll get over it.”</p><p>Seokjin’s warm hand covers yours, and your fingers still. You breathe in sharply, startled at the sudden and unexpected touch, and you stare at his hand. <em>Is he… trying to reassure you?</em> “We’re gonna get out of here,” he says, his voice steady, and you bite your lip as you keep your eyes averted. <em>He’s trying to reassure you. He’s actually trying to reassure you.</em> “You’re not alone, okay? We’re in this togeth–”</p><p>“Hey, Seokjinnie, you ready?”</p><p>You jolt upright, the warmth of Seokjin’s palm lifts off your hand, and you both blink at the girl peeking her head into the room. It takes you several seconds to recognise her – and when realisation finally dawns on you, you still feel too tired to do much more than smile.</p><p>Seokjin clears his throat and sits up, smoothing out his shirt. “Yeah, of course, I’ll be right out,” he replies, clearing his throat once more and flashing her a smile.</p><p>She nods happily. “Alright, I’ll be at the elevators,” she chirps right before she slips out again.</p><p>As soon as she’s out of earshot, silence falls once more – but you can’t help but snort, forgetting about your own mess of a life as you turn to face him. “<em>Seokjinnie</em>?” you repeat, pursing your lips to fight your laughter. “You told her to call you <em>Seokjinnie</em>?”</p><p>He adjusts quickly to the topic change, narrowing his eyes at you as he puts a bright pink post-it on the page he’s reading. “I don’t fucking know, she’s been calling me that this entire time and I’m not gonna tell her to <em>not</em>,” he replies, flipping the folder closed and rising to his feet.  He grabs his suit jacket from the back of his chair, slinging it over his shoulder. “I’ll uh… I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”</p><p>“Good luck, Seokjinnie,” you tell him through a laugh, fumbling with the corner of the page. You completely ignore the glare he sends your way, grinning brightly. “Remember the emergency antenna!”</p><p>He snorts and narrows his eyes. “Thank you for that amazing tip,” he says with a sarcastic smile, reaching behind him to open the door and walk backwards out of the conference room. “I really appreciate your help.”</p><p>You beam at him and throw up an ‘ok’ sign. “Oh, hey, don’t forget!”</p><p>He turns to look at you as he walks past the glass wall, his eyebrows raised. You point at your forearm, pushing up an imaginary sleeve and he scoffs, shoving the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows, ruffling his fingers through his hair and throwing up his arms in a proverbial <em>happy now?</em></p><p>You give him a thumbs up and he laughs, replies with a playful salute as he steps out of your sight.</p><p>With a small smile, you shake your head and look back down at the transcripts in front of you, sighing deeply. The ball of nerves you felt just yesterday returns, it only grows worse as Nara’s scowl flashes in front of your eyes again.</p><p>Seokjin had a point last night, asking you how you’d get out of here, trying to get you to get moving like he is. <em>It’s not like waiting is gonna do you any good.</em></p><p>Tapping the butt of your pen against the paper, you look at your phone again, picking it up to check your reflection. You run your fingers through your hair, still smooth and glossy despite the humidity outside. Maybe you need to start playing up the uptightness before you can actually start the story, follow Nara’s example and gel down your hair for starters. <em>Or maybe, you don’t have a story at all, and you’re doomed to be stuck in here as some background character forever and –</em></p><p>You shake your head, pointedly closing the folder in front of you. You need to stay positive here – and you need to start <em>actively</em> trying to get out of here instead of watching Seokjin flirt his way home. <em>That’s</em> why you haven’t found anyone yet.</p><p>With a sharp breath in, a sharp breath out, you straighten up in your chair. You just haven’t been trying hard enough– and that ends now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you so much for reading so far, I hope you enjoyed this first part and that you’re looking forward to the next one!! :) I know it’s a lot longer from what I usually post, so please let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear your feedback!!💕💕💕 In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful day/night, and that you can enjoy the comeback :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>OH DEAR this has hit 41k and---- wow fjdkslsdfjk🙈🤭 Anyhoot, I forgot to say this last time but I have no idea what it’s like to work as a lawyer, so please forgive me for the creative liberties I’ve taken ;) Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy this fic!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What the hell are you wearing?”</p><p>You look up from your desk. Seokjin raises an eyebrow at you, his eyes flickering down to glance over your outfit and you can <em>see</em> him pursing his lips, you can <em>see</em> the beginnings of a smile twitching at his mouth despite his efforts to hide it.</p><p>“I’m wearing a pantsuit,” you reply with a shrug, not daring to move your shoulders much more than a few millimeters as the fabric of your jacket seems to tighten around you even more. Almost robotically, you turn to look back at the email you’re typing, keeping your upper body entirely still.</p><p>“Yeah, I see that, but like… why did you buy it three sizes too small?”</p><p>You huff as he sits down at his desk next to you and turns on his monitor. “Listen, this was the only thing in my wardrobe that matched the rest of the outfit and I didn’t have time to buy a new one, so we’ll just– have to deal with it, alright?” you reply through a sigh, your fingers hitting the keyboard just a little harder.</p><p>He tilts his head at you and his amused smile widens. “Alright, well, at least take that jacket off, for your poor arms’ sake,” he says, turning to his computer to log onto his account. “I’m feeling cramped just looking at you.”</p><p>You roll your eyes, shaking your head. “I –” <em>Jesus Christ.</em> You’re never going to live this down. “I can’t,” you add in a mutter, keeping your eyes on your screen as you type the closing paragraph of your email.</p><p>He snickers, looking at your jacket once more. “What, is it glued on there?” he asks, loud enough for the <em>entire </em>office to hear and you feel like strangling him again. “I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me, but…”</p><p>“It’s not <em>glued to my body</em>, Kim,” you huff, rolling your eyes. “I just… the blouse, it’s a little…” You trail off, mumbling the last few words so softly that even you can’t hear them.</p><p>Seokjin leans closer. “What?” he says, <em>so fucking loudly</em> and you grit your teeth, glaring at him. He barely fights a laugh, amusement and curiosity brimming in his eyes. “What?” he repeats, in a whisper this time.</p><p>You let out a sharp breath, your eyes falling closed as you compose yourself, trying to keep your cheeks from burning. “The sleeves, they’re…” You breathe in deeply, averting your eyes from the excited grin on Seokjin’s face because you just <em>know</em> he’ll use this as fodder to throw you off your game later and <em>you hate him already</em>. “They have elbow holes in them.”</p><p>Seokjin’s eyes widen and he covers his mouth with the tips of his fingers. “They– they <em>what</em>?” he breathes out, biting his lip. He’s really doing a <em>bang-up</em> job at hiding the laughter breaking through his composure.</p><p>You bite on your tongue, letting out another sigh to keep yourself from screaming. Not at him, no; that would be fitting. But you’d rather scream at this universe for putting such a terrible, <em>terrible</em> outfit in your wardrobe. “You know how some shirts have those elbow patches?”</p><p>Seokjin purses his lips more tightly, his chest shakes as he tries to keep his laughter in. “Hmhm,” he replies with a slow nod, his voice two octaves higher.</p><p>“Mine has…” <em>I hate this, I hate this, I hate this.</em> “It’s got holes where the patches should be.” Your voice is so low that Seokjin can barely hear it – but he <em>does</em>, and he lets out a burst of laughter right before you glare at him once more.</p><p>“I’m not– I’m not laughing at you,” he says, letting out another laugh before he manages to glue his lips shut again. “I just– wow, that’s…”</p><p>“I don’t need to hear it, alright?” you huff tiredly, rubbing your face. <em>Off to a great start.</em> “I’m buying new stuff when I can, I just didn’t have the time to do it this morning,” you mumble, trying to focus on proofreading your email before you accidentally send it out with typos. It might be a fictional universe, but you still feel like you should do your work <em>right</em>.</p><p>“Alright, at least just…” You look up at Seokjin as he slips out of his own suit jacket, then holds it out to you. You scowl at it. “Please take mine before you embarrass yourself in front of clients or something.”</p><p>“First of all, I haven’t seen, let alone <em>talked</em> to a client since I got here, and secondly– they’re movie clients, Kim, they’re not even real,” you protest. Regardless, you snatch the jacket out of his hands and quickly pull off your own to slip into it. The fabric is already warm, and it smells like the subtle, musky cologne that always makes you scowl. You’re practically drowning in the thing – the shoulders stick out way beyond the ends of yours, and the sleeves slip over the tips of your fingers. But it’s comfortable, and at least it’s better than the alternative.</p><p>“Thanks, I guess,” you mumble, pushing up the sleeves to free up your hands for typing, and you turn back to look at your screen.</p><p>Seokjin leans closer, a bright smile on his face. “What was that?”</p><p>You roll your eyes. “Thank you, <em>Seokjinnie</em>, for letting me borrow your jacket or whatever,” you say through a huff, shaking your head. He blasts right past you calling him <em>Seokjinnie</em>, simply leaning back in his chair with that same wide grin on his face, and you can barely stand it. “Now please tell me you have some good news about last night because I really need that right now.”</p><p>He raises an eyebrow, resting his folded hands on his stomach. There’s a satisfied smirk curling at his lips, and you want to wipe it off his face, somehow. But for your own sake, for <em>everyone’s </em>sake, you take a deep breath and let it go. “Well?” you encourage impatiently, gesturing for him to start talking.</p><p>“I don’t know, she laughed at my jokes and everything so I guess it went pretty well.”</p><p>You snort. “Laughed at your jokes?” you repeat, shaking your head. “Dear god, she must be head over heels. We’ll be out of here in a day, tops.”</p><p>He shrugs, ever so smug. <em>How humble.</em> “What can I say, I told you I know how to get with the ladies.”</p><p>You bury your face in your hands and laugh out of sheer exasperation, shaking your head. The scent Seokjin’s cologne and a hint of laundry detergent overwhelms you as your nose rubs against the sleeve. With disgust, you realise that you really don’t mind the smell once you get past the initial wave of conditioned nausea, and the thought occurs to you that he actually smells <em>good</em>. The bastard.</p><p>“Just– alright, Don Juan,” you interrupt yourself before your mind can go more <em>disgusting</em> places. With a sigh, you look up at him.  “Did you guys kiss or what?”</p><p>He raises an eyebrow, a smirk curling at his lips. Despite the smug facade, though, you notice the tips of his ears have flushed bright red, and you purse your lips in amusement. “I don’t just kiss and tell, Y/N, you should know this by now.”</p><p>“So… that means you kissed, then,” you conclude dryly.</p><p>He pauses and frowns, trying to figure out how the hell you got to that conclusion – and when he succeeds, he simply huffs. “Listen, don’t try to twist my words to make your point, you little rasc–”</p><p>“Did you?”</p><p>You just grin when he glares at you some more. Silence falls over the two of you as you keep eye contact and he tries to <em>win</em> the staring contest, the fool. Your eyes haven’t even <em>started </em>to dry out before he sighs and gives in; “Yeah, fine. I walked her home, we kissed, we said good night, and we parted ways. Happy?”</p><p>Your grin widens. “Oh, very much so,” you say, rubbing your hands. It’s mostly just the fabric from his jacket that has slipped back down your arms, and you push up the sleeves as you lean back, folding your hands behind your head. “Because now, we can move onto phase two.”</p><p>Seokjin frowns. “Phase tw– I thought there were acts!” he hisses.</p><p>You nod. “Yeah, of course there are, but every act’s got its phases,” you reply with a shrug. “<em>Duh</em>,” you add, unable to keep the smug grin at bay. <em>Ha, that’s right, I know more than you for once, asshole.</em></p><p>He heaves a sigh, rubbing his forehead before he gestures for you to go on. “Alright, fine, let’s hear it. What the hell is phase two?”</p><p>Your grin grows lopsided. “The romancing.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You huff as you pull at your shirt, trying to get fresh air on your skin. Much too late, you realise that there’s only the hot summer breeze that’s been plaguing the city for days now, and you let your top fall back into place with a disappointed sigh. At least you had half the mind to exchange the pantsuit you wore last week for one of the more loosely fitting blouses in your wardrobe. The heat still makes it cling uncomfortably to your skin, though, and you squirm for the fifth time in two minutes.</p><p>You look up at Seokjin, who’s walking with his collar buttoned all the way up, his tie neatly in place. With gritted teeth, you conclude that <em>he’s not even sweating.</em> “Jesus, aren’t you hot?” you remark with a scowl.</p><p>He grins at you. “Well, I mean…”</p><p>You groan, shaking your head. “Dude, I didn’t mean your face, I meant your tempera–” You stop yourself before you can get agitated – it’ll only get you more heated, and you <em>really</em> can’t use that right now. “Never mind, let’s just… go over the plan again.”</p><p>With a sigh, he takes a sip from his coffee. “It’s not <em>that</em> complicated, Y/N, I know how –”</p><p>“Just tell me and we’ll be done with it, Seokjinnie.”</p><p>His jaw ticks, and you grin at him. Over the past week, he’s grown more and more annoyed with the new pet name Hyerin has given him – and to your joy, you’ve had the chance to use it more and more now that you’ve been spending so much time together.</p><p>“You’ll be gone to do some other shit Junho supposedly saddled you with, I’ll ask her to help me with the transcripts, we’ll work together for a few hours and bond like in the movies,” he recites in a monotone voice, taking another sip from the iced latte in his hand. He averts his eyes to look at the road, his gaze flitting from car to car as they pass you by. “I told you, Y/N, I know what we’re doing.”</p><p>You hum and nod, sipping from your own drink. He’s been making a lot of progress this week; he’s actually <em>dating </em>– unlike you. Because unlike you, he’s actually found a love interest. And unlike you, he’s actually doing something to get out of this universe.</p><p>You’re starting to think your romcom might be taking a little too long to buffer.</p><p>With a sigh, you glance at Seokjin, who’s still staring at the road as he quietly sips from his coffee. He’s been unusually quiet, a pensive look etched into his features as he stares at his cup, his free hand stuffed into his pocket. The Seokjin you know would be teasing you about something, smirking about this or that – and yet, he’s just <em>silent</em>.</p><p>“What’s gotten into you?” You lean forward in an attempt to get eye contact with him, but he looks away instead. “You’re very… not talkative.”</p><p>Seokjin sighs and absently swirls the coffee around in his cup, ice cubes bumping into each other. “I don’t know, just not feeling it today, I guess.” He shrugs.</p><p>“Wait, wait, wait,” you rush out, your eyebrows shooting up, and you scramble to block his path. He tries to step to the side but you follow suit, one foot landing on the hot asphalt road. He stops, rolls his eyes, looks everywhere <em>but</em> you. “<em>You</em> are not feeling it? <em>You</em>? The guy who always finds some way to… <em>feel it</em>?”</p><p>He grits his teeth, takes a sip. “You done?”</p><p>He takes a step forward, tries to pass you once more, but you step even further aside. With a stumble, you hop off the sidewalk onto the road, one hand held out in front of you to keep him from walking. “No, not until you tell me what’s wrong.”</p><p>With a huff, he grabs your arm and pulls you back onto the pavement before either of you can get hit by a car. You stumble again, almost tripping over the curb but he keeps you upright, his fingers tight around you. “I’m just…” He sighs. Pulling yourself free, you frown up at him, smoothing out your blouse as a car drives right over the spot where you were standing. “I just feel bad. That’s it. It’s fine, I –”</p><p>“No, wait, hold on– you feel bad?”</p><p>He’s already brushing past you on his way to the office, and you quickly rush after him. You catch up just as he opens the door to the building, stepping into the cool lobby. “Dude, what do you mean, you feel bad?”</p><p>He winces, clumsily pulling out the pass in his pocket so he can get through the security gates. “I don’t know, it’s just kind of uncomfortable sometimes.” He shrugs yet again. You follow him to the elevator, your footsteps echoing through the almost empty lobby, off the tiled floors and the bright white walls. “I like her but, I mean… I don’t like her as much as I’m pretending to, and it just feels a little unfair, you know?”</p><p>You frown and step into a waiting elevator, leaning against the wall as Seokjin presses the button to your floor. “Well, I mean, lawyers have to pretend to like their clients all the time.”</p><p>He winces, crossing his arms as he leans against the wall opposite yours. “This is different, Y/N.” He stares at his feet. “I know we like to tell each other we’re bad lawyers and everything, but even we don’t <em>date</em> clients.”</p><p>You frown empathetically. “I know it feels really shitty, but she’s fictional,” you try, tilting your head. “And she’s the one that can either keep you here or get you back home.”</p><p>He sighs. “I know.” The doors <em>ding</em> and slide apart, revealing the hustle and bustle of your floor. You slip past a group of your colleagues standing around the water cooler, following Seokjin to your desks. “And I’ll still play it out and everything, just… I don’t know. It’s whatever.”</p><p>He rubs his face as he sits down in his chair, still avoiding your eyes. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him this tired and demotivated to do anything. Quite frankly, you probably haven’t seen him not smile for this long. It’s disturbing.</p><p>You look around the office, glancing at Hyerin’s desk almost out of reflex. She’s already looking, <em>frowning</em> at you – and before she quickly turns back to her computer, you swear there’s a hint of jealousy in her eyes.</p><p>Or maybe it’s just sadness.</p><p>You quickly avert your eyes. Guilt streaks painfully through your chest as you look at Seokjin again, who’s ignoring you almost completely to stare at his monitor instead. You wish you could do <em>something</em> – you wish you could just bring this to an end as soon as you can, but you can’t think of anything and it frustrates you to no avail.</p><p>“Hey,” you say lowly, finally sitting down at your desk. Seokjin hums, doesn’t look up at you. “If you want, we can try to figure something ou–”</p><p>A yell interrupts you and you jolt upright, the both of you look into the direction of the sound. The elevators have barely opened, yet there’s a bunch of suits– ah, your <em>colleagues</em>, of course, walking into the office, cheering, carrying several champagne bottles in hand.</p><p>You frown, glancing at Seokjin. “What the fuck is…”</p><p>Junho walks out of his office with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen on him, which really is an incredible accomplishment. His arms are outstretched as he shakes the suits’ hands, and he’s congratulating them loudly – almost as if he <em>wants</em> the entire office to hear.</p><p>“Oh, I’m guessing they won a case,” Seokjin mutters dryly, looking back at his desktop monitor. “Guess not everything’s changed,” he adds through a snort, running his fingers along his tie to smooth it out.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>He shrugs. “Junho just cares about the stuff that gets him some kind of advantage,” he replies, finally looking up at you. “Stuff that gets us good publicity, stuff he can brag about to his golfing buddies, maybe leverage it with whoever’s above him for extra money he’ll stick in his pocket, that sort of thing.”</p><p>You frown, looking back at Junho as he shakes another hand. He laughs jovially as he pats the guy’s shoulder. “He doesn’t seem…”</p><p>Seokjin snorts and rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, this Junho just hides it better, I guess.” His words are dry and monotone, yet they’re sharp – like he’s annoyed at you for being a little confused.</p><p>You let out a sigh, your eyes flickering back to Seokjin. “Hey, listen, I get it if you’re mad, but don’t take it all out on the person that’s –”</p><p>“Everyone, attention, please!”</p><p>
  <em>Jesus Christ, you’re going to kill that guy.</em>
</p><p>You seal your lips anyway, looking up at Junho as he pulls the attention of the office. “To celebrate the wonderful colleagues that just won the <em>monumental</em> Choi case, I’m upgrading our Friday happy hour to a full-fledged celebration!” Someone cheers, another pops a champagne bottle, several more laugh. You can only gape as champagne foams out of the bottle, drips onto the carpeted floor without anyone seeming to care. <em>Poor cleaners.</em> “Like I said, this will all be in honour of the amazing team of…”</p><p>You tune out the rest of Junho’s speech as he addresses every single guy on the team as if he’s already practising for the real deal on Friday. You can only hope he’ll give you the abridged version by then.</p><p>As you wait for your computer to boot up, you let out a sigh, your eyes wandering across the office once more. Hyerin is leaning against her desk, smiling as she listens to Junho. Almost as if on cue, she glances into Seokjin’s direction and her gaze moves to you <em>again</em>, her eyebrows furrowing –</p><p>And suddenly, everything clicks.</p><p>You gasp. Relief washes over you, and you veer your chair around to slap Seokjin’s arm. He yelps an ‘ow’, scowling at you as he rubs the spot. “What the hell are you doing?” he hisses, nervously glancing at Junho, who doesn’t seem to have heard much of the commotion.</p><p>You grin. “The end is nigh, Kim,” you tell him smugly, leaning back in your chair.</p><p>He just frowns, still holding onto his arm, and his eyes flicker over to Hyerin. “The– the end?” he repeats cautiously, as if <em>the end </em>is some ominous threat about to swallow you whole.</p><p>With an ever-widening smile, you fold your hands behind your head, leaning back in your chair. “It’s time for act two and three.”</p><p>His frown deepens and his shoulders deflate, his hand drops back into his lap. “What?” he asks through yet another sigh.</p><p>You don’t feel a drop of annoyance at his exasperation. Excitement is shooting through your veins, and you can hardly keep yourself from bouncing. He raises an eyebrow, some of the annoyance dissipates from his face and is replaced with <em>hope</em>. And finally, you get to give him some news you’ve both been waiting to hear for what feels like centuries now.</p><p>“We’re getting out by the end of this week.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know if I like this plan, Y/N.”</p><p>Your head shoots up from the umpteenth transcript you’ve read today. Seokjin has been quiet all day, and you’ve both been silently reading in the conference room for hours now. Random letters swim in front of you – you have to blink to notice his grimace. He’s fumbling with the corners of his own stack of papers and his hair is uncharacteristically messy – you’re not sure if that’s because he’s trying to emulate the look of the typical romcom guy, or if he’s actually falling apart.</p><p>Your eyebrows furrow and you lean towards him. “Listen, at least I’ll be able to help you now, alright?” you try to reassure him. “Now that I know what the hell I’m supposed to be doing, we can put all of our focus on getting out of here as soon as possible.”</p><p>His grimace only worsens. “Yeah, but…” He sighs, looks away, rubs his eyes as he tries to read the transcript in front of him. “Fine. You’re the romcom expert, whatever.”</p><p>He’s gritting his teeth as he scribbles something onto his notepad, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration– or frustration. Maybe both.</p><p>You bite your tongue. You’ll be the first to admit that you’re ecstatic to finally know what you’re supposed to be in this universe, but you’ll also be the first to say that you’re not necessarily happy with the role you were assigned. You <em>understand </em>him.</p><p>It’s not like you <em>want </em>to be the romantic rival.</p><p>“If there was another way, you know I would –”</p><p>“I know,” he interrupts.</p><p>You turn back to your transcript with a soft sigh. You want to add something, you want to take the edge off when you have no idea <em>how</em>. When even <em>you</em> aren’t happy with the plan you’ve cooked up.</p><p>“Hey, Seokjinnie,” says a sweet voice, and Hyerin peeks her head inside the conference room. You look up to send her a smile, but she doesn’t spare you a glance, beaming at Seokjin instead.</p><p>You take a breath, rolling your shoulders. <em>Great start, I guess.</em></p><p>“You ready?”</p><p>Seokjin grimaces again, pity and guilt written all over his face. You’re sure Hyerin notices it, but you only feel worse at the fact that she doesn’t fully realise <em>why </em>exactly he’s so distraught. “I… I’m really sorry, I forgot to text you, I just –”</p><p>“We’re really trying to get through all of these transcripts before Friday,” you add with a small smile, putting your hand on Seokjin’s arm. You feel it tense under your palm as his fingers curl up into a fist, his other hand fumbling with his pen.</p><p>“Yeah,” he adds with an apologetic smile, his voice strained. “I’m sorry, I think I’m gonna have to take a rain check on those drinks.”</p><p>Hyerin is quiet for a moment, her eyebrows raise slowly as her eyes flicker from Seokjin to you, to your hand, back to Seokjin. “Right.” She clears her throat and puts on a smile, and you almost want to grimace.</p><p>You manage to keep your composure, simply keeping up the sickly sweet smile you’ve seen on so many rival love interests. Hyerin smiles back, though it seems pained. “Of course, good luck on the uh…” She trails off, waves to the piles of transcripts still on the table.</p><p>Without another word, she quickly slips back outside, the dull <em>thud, thud, thud</em> of her heels against the carpeted floors dying out as she walks off.</p><p>You rip your hand off Seokjin’s arm, running it through your hair instead. Seokjin seems muted, his jaw ticks as he leans his chin on his hand and lets his eyes glide over the transcript in front of him. “That was…”</p><p>“Yeah.” His voice is curt, and it almost sounds stern. You huff, trying to keep down the annoyance flaring up in your chest – you <em>know</em> that snapping at him really isn’t going to make things better here, and it’s not going to get you out of here either.</p><p>“I mean, we’re not completely lying to her here,” you try, gesturing to the transcripts. “Still lots to do, right?”</p><p>He grits his teeth, shakes his head. You wince. <em>Seems about right.</em> “Let’s just… talk about something else.”</p><p>“Ah, finally a good plan,” you joke. He looks up at you, trying to glare at you in annoyance but unable to hide the smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. “I say we talk a little more about your cat, it seems pretty cool.”</p><p>He snorts, putting down his pen as he turns to you. “I’ve told you literally nothing about her,” he remarks, though you’re already feeling a sense of victory at the amusement glimmering in his eyes. “There’s not much to talk about, anyway. She’s a cat, she does… cat things.”</p><p>You raise an eyebrow. “Descriptive,” you remark, picking up your coffee mug and taking a sip. “What’s her name? What does she look like? Tell me everything, man.”</p><p>He shrugs, glances at his transcript. “Well, her name is Obi, and she’s got reddish brown fur. She’s a house cat, but I guess that works out since I live, like, seventeen floors up.” A smile pulls at his lips and he barely puts in the effort to hide it. You can’t help but smile, too. “She likes to sleep on my face. The real one, I mean,” he adds, shrugging again as he chews on his bottom lip. “This one just kinda… sits in my lap.”</p><p>You let out an involuntary laugh, nodding slowly. “She sounds cute. The real one, obviously,” you say with a smile, and he nods just as happily. “Seems like you miss her.”</p><p>He smiles, shrugs. “Well, you know. Waking up almost suffocating because there’s a cat on your face, it’s not the best, but– it gives you a sense of normalcy, you know?” he says a little <em>too</em> seriously, and you snort. “I don’t know, I guess I’ve been missing that lately.”</p><p>You bite your lip, an amused smile breaking out. “Yeah, tell me about it,” you say through a dramatic sigh. “I just don’t know what to do with the brand new dishwasher I’ve got, I really miss my skin going all dry from all that hand washing.”</p><p>Seokjin narrows his eyes. “Are you making fun of me?”</p><p>“Well, I do have a quota to meet, you know,” you return with a grin.</p><p>He laughs, shaking his head as he glances at the transcripts on the table. The piles have shrunk significantly to when you started a few days ago, though you’re starting to wonder if someone might be adding a pile or two to the <em>to be read</em> section while you’re gone every night.</p><p>“I get it, though,” you mutter through a sigh. You avert your eyes to your fidgeting fingers, chewing on your bottom lip as silence falls for a moment. “The whole Nara thing that happened, it –” You pause and shake your head, letting out a sigh. Blinking fast, you suppress the image of her scowl flashing in front of you. “And then all of <em>this</em>…” You gesture towards the transcripts. “It’s really making me miss my old job.”</p><p>Seokjin laughs and shrugs. “I’ve been loving the free time, I’m not gonna lie,” he replies, a small smile curling at his lips as he plays with the edges of the paper. “But I do miss stealing your clients.”</p><p>You glare at him. “Seriously, Kim, be original for a second here, will you?” you huff, crossing your arms. “Nothing else you miss about your real job?”</p><p>You admit, you’re hoping he can actually come up with something better than ‘stealing your clients’. It can’t bode well for your <em>dream job</em> that someone who’s been working it for over five years has nothing good to say about it.</p><p>He shrugs and avoids your eyes. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Y/N. It’s pretty much all this but worse,” he says, absently filing through the pages of the transcript in front of him. You frown, your smile falters with every word he says, and they sit heavily in your stomach. “I don’t think I’ve been in a courtroom in ages, and you’re pretty much only doing prep work for other –”</p><p>He looks up and spots the dejected look on your face. Clearing his throat, he shifts in his seat, tilting his head at you. “But hey, it can be pretty cool,” he tries, though you’re the one who’s avoiding his eyes this time. “Maybe you’ll get luckier than me and Junho actually lets you handle a case or something.” Though you recognise the effort he’s making to cheer you up, it doesn’t help. <em>He’s been here for five years. Is he just that lousy of a lawyer, or is this job really that bad?</em> “You’ll win some cases, drink some champagne, help justice prevail, the whole shebang.”</p><p>A smile pulls at your lips despite yourself. You know he’s lying, or embellishing the truth at the very least, but…</p><p>He grins as soon as he notices your reaction, and he leans back in his chair. “Little miss Coffee Spiller has a dream, huh?” he teases and your face falls, you sigh. “Wants to take my job and make something of herself, does she?”</p><p>You can’t exactly <em>refute </em>his conclusion, and so you just ignore it. “Listen, the coffee thing was an <em>accident</em>, alright? Don’t –”</p><p>He grins.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>He puts down his pen, leans closer to you. You lean back in response. “Are you jealous of me?” he says lowly, teasingly, a grin curling at his lips.</p><p>You blink at him, taken aback. “No.” <em>Dammit.</em> Just one syllable, and you can’t even get your voice to be steady.</p><p>And he <em>notices</em>, the bastard. He notices, and his eyes sparkle with joy. <em>Guess he’s back to normal now.</em> “You’re jealous of me,” he concludes firmly, smugly.</p><p>You scowl. “Listen, it’s not that surprising that someone like me is jealous of someone like you when you probably make twice the amount of money and –” You pause, seeing the way his grin only widens as you start to ramble.</p><p>With a sigh, you shake your head. “Never mind. I’m not jealous of you, Kim,” you insist, crossing your arms. “I’m jealous of the <em>position </em>you’re in.”</p><p>He simply smiles at you, nodding slowly – you just know he’s completely ignoring every word of nuance. “You’re jealous of me,” he says as if it’s the best news he’s heard in <em>weeks</em>. “Ha, you’re <em>jealous</em> of <em>me</em>.”</p><p>You let out a slow breath. “I just told you I’m not –”</p><p>“I knew it!” he insists, grinning as he turns back to the transcript on the table. You purse your lips, taking another breath– “You’re jealous of me,” he repeats in a taunting voice, wiggling his shoulders as he scribbles something on his notepad again, picks up a bright pink highlighter to mark a few lines of the top paragraph.</p><p>“Hey, listen here, you little –”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“Oh my god, you won’t <em>believe</em> this thing I heard yesterday.”</p><p>There’s a thick edge of smugness to Seokjin’s words, and you let out a sharp breath as you hear him approach. “What?” you snap, punching the button of the water cooler. You try to focus on the way it slowly, steadily fills with water, but your fingers curl around the bright orange handle of your mug so tightly that your knuckles go white.</p><p>He leans his shoulder against the wall, his hands dug into the pockets of his pressed pants as he grins at you. “I thought you said we should be smiling and looking like we’re flirting,” he returns, raising an eyebrow. “What, with the whole ‘make Hyerin jealous’ thing?”</p><p><em>God dammit.</em> “Fine,” you reply, taking a breath and plastering a tight-lipped smile on your face. “Happy?”</p><p>“God, what are you talking about? You look miserable,” he breathes out, leaning closer as if he’s studying your expression.</p><p>You bite down on your tongue until it starts to sting just a little too much, and you fake a happier smile. Seokjin follows suit, his grin widening – you fight the urge to scowl at him this time. “How’s this, <em>Seokjinnie</em>?” you ask him with the sweetest voice you can muster, leaning your shoulder against the wall to mirror his posture.</p><p>He laughs. “We can work on… finetuning your flirting some other time, but I guess this should do,” he replies, and you glare at him for a second before you quickly compose yourself. “Now, wanna hear what this girl told me yesterday?”</p><p>You feign curiosity, taking a sip from your water. “What was it, Seokjinnie? I’m <em>clamouring</em> to hear about this conversation with a mystery girl,” you say, your voice monotone.</p><p>He just grins, leaning forward and lowering his voice. “Well, see, this girl I thought hated my guts said she was <em>jealous</em> of me,” he replies, grabbing a plastic cup from the water cooler and filling it up. “Really very surprising.”</p><p>You have to work to maintain your smile. “Don’t worry, I’m quite sure she still hates you with every fibre of her being,” you return, and he laughs as he sips from his water. From the corner of your eye, you notice the elevator doors slide open, and you turn your head just in time to see Hyerin step out. A smile curls at her lips as she happily walks into the office, her fingers wrapped around a cup of coffee.</p><p>Almost automatically, her eyes fall on you, and her smile fades.</p><p>You quickly turn to look back at Seokjin, straightening up. “Alright, pretend I said something really funny.”</p><p>He chuckles in surprise, his eyebrows shooting up. “What?”</p><p>“Hyerin just got here and I think she saw us,” you mutter, tagging on a random giggle. Your eyes flicker towards Hyerin once more as she makes her way to her desk, looking at you over her shoulder. “Yeah,” you say. “She definitely saw us.”</p><p>He grins at you over the edge of his cup. “Okay, try to flirt with me, then.”</p><p>You raise an eyebrow and grit your teeth. “You’re gonna play hard to get <em>now</em>?” You do your best to keep up your smile, though you’re not quite sure how successful you are, exactly.</p><p>With a shrug, he fills up his cup again. “Well, I can’t do all the work for you, can I?”</p><p>Smiling sweetly at him, you reach up to put a hand on his shoulder, letting it trail it down his arm. He raises an eyebrow, smiling in amusement and glancing at your hand as you fumble with his sleeve. “You’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” you tell him, still smiling like you’re giving him the best compliments you can think of. “And I’d throw this water in your face if I could.”</p><p>He laughs into his cup as he takes another sip. “Okay, so maybe your flirting needs a <em>lot</em> of finetuning, but we can work on it,” he says with a snort. You ignore his words and tilt your head at him instead, still playing with the hem of his sleeve. “Jesus Christ, is that your only move? Insulting people and touching their clothes?”</p><p>You narrow your eyes for a split second before you compose yourself. “I –”</p><p>There’s movement in the corner of your eye. You glance into the direction of Hyerin’s desk, and your heart skips a beat when you notice she’s coming your way. “Kim, follow me,” you tell him as you turn around, pulling at his sleeve.</p><p>“Wait, what?” he replies in a whisper, practically stumbling after you as you turn the corner and walk into a hallway, your eyes scanning each door to see where you could hide. “Y/N, seriously, what are you –”</p><p>“I’ll explain later,” you breathe out, pulling on one of the doors and huffing when it doesn’t budge. “We need to find a hiding spot before she –” </p><p>The second door opens and you quickly step inside, pulling Seokjin with you. You hastily close the door, not even looking around to see where the hell you’ve ended up until –</p><p>Seokjin switches on the light and looks around. “Seriously?” He snorts. “We’re hiding out in the janitor’s closet? Are we back in high school or something?”</p><p>“We’re not here to <em>make out</em>, you moron,” you huff, crossing your arms. They bump against his chest as they move but you keep them crossed, trying to ignore how <em>close</em> this closet is forcing you to stand to him.</p><p>“Then why did you pull us in here?”</p><p>He looks at you and you instinctively pull your head back; it bumps against a shelf behind you and you curse underneath your breath, rubbing the painful spot. “Because we need to let this stew,” you reply. Your face contorts as you press onto the bump, and you ignore the way your nose <em>almost</em> rubs against his shoulder every time you move your head. “Jesus, what is this shelf made out of? Concrete?”</p><p>“We need to let this <em>stew</em>?” he repeats, his eyebrows furrowing. “What do you mean, <em>we need to let this stew</em>?”</p><p>Dropping your hand back down to your side, you look up at him and fight the urge to lean back again. “I told you about this yesterday, Kim, did you forget already?” you say, rolling your eyes. “We’re gonna force the setback of the story by making her think you’re cheating on her with me, or that you’re choosing me over her at the very least – you’re gonna avoid her for the day to let her come to her own conclusions, you’ll have a fight and break up for a sec and then see each other again at the party Friday and <em>bam</em>, you make a big gesture to win her heart back, and the movie ends,” you ramble off in a whisper, barely getting everything out in one breath.</p><p>Seokjin’s eyes flutter closed and he pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is not how you’re supposed to communicate with people,” he says through a sigh, shaking his head. “Especially not with the ones you’re dating.”</p><p>You snort. “Well, yeah, obviously,” you retort, putting your ear against the door. You can hear footsteps outside, heels against carpet. You can’t tell if it’s Hyerin or someone else, but your heart pounds nevertheless, and you lower your voice even further as you continue, “Romcoms are centered around miscommunication.”</p><p>His frown deepens as he lowers his hand, and he blinks at you – you can’t tell if it’s sheer confusion, shock, or something else. “How– how are these <em>fun</em> for you to watch, exactly?”</p><p>You narrow your eyes at him, and he looks back at you. Momentarily, you’re distracted – distracted by his big, shiny eyes, by his plump lips, his dark hair brushing over his flawless skin, and you hate it. You hate the fact that you’re even <em>thinking</em> that he looks really, <em>really</em> good up close, that you’d want to run your fingers through his hair just to test if it’s as soft as it looks, that you’d want to lean in and –</p><p>“Because they always kiss and make up in the end, no matter what happens,” you mutter quickly, tearing your eyes away from him to put your ear to the door once more. You can’t help but notice the way your heart races as you feel his eyes burn into you, your cheeks heating underneath his stare and you <em>wish</em>, you wish he hadn’t turned on the lights because this is just <em>embarrassing</em>. “Now shut up and let me listen, will you?”</p><p>His gaze lingers on you for a moment, and he narrows his eyes – but he sighs and gives in with a subtle nod, averting his eyes to look at his feet. You can’t help but glance at him once more, your eyes almost glued to his mouth as he slowly chews on his bottom lip. It’s just <em>unfair</em>, how he manages to look so pretty, how he manages to cast some kind of weird, sucky spell on you that makes you forget the reason why you hate him in the first place, that just makes you see a kind, gentle, funny guy who wouldn’t even hurt a fly.</p><p>
  <em>So this is what all those romcom villains feel like, huh?</em>
</p><p>Your face contorts in disgust at the thought and you close your eyes, trying to focus on hearing what’s happening in the hallway, which seems to have gone quiet. “I think –” You clear your throat. “I think the coast is clear.”</p><p>He sighs. “Fucking finally,” he mutters underneath his breath as you reach out and open the door, peeking out to look to your left and right, making sure the hallway is <em>actually</em> empty. Satisfied when you see no one walking around, you step out, blinking furiously to make your eyes adjust to the bright fluorescent lights.</p><p>“Now, just remember to avoid her for the day, alright?” you tell him lowly as you walk back into the office. Your eyes flicker into the direction of Hyerin’s desk, but her chair is empty.</p><p>Seokjin hums, nods – he avoids your eyes. You grit your teeth, fixing your gaze ahead of you as you make your way towards the conference room.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, last one,” you remark through a sigh, picking up the last transcript lying on the table and waving it at him.</p><p>Seokjin looks up from his own file and raises an eyebrow, a smile curling at his lips. “About time,” he replies, turning back to his transcript. The conference room is quiet, brightly lit by the fluorescent lights above you. In the distance, you can see the darkening skyline through the windows, more and more offices in the surrounding buildings going dark for the night.</p><p>You smile, letting out yet another sigh as you flip open the folder. “Well, we’re not done yet, but…”</p><p>“Close enough.”</p><p>With a snort, you nod, blinking at the page and trying to focus on reading. Your head is aching and the dull pain just doesn’t seem to go away, no matter how much water you drink or how much you massage your temples– but you feel compelled to finish it all <em>now</em>. You’re not sure what Junho looks like when he’s not smiling, but you really don’t want to find –</p><p>“Hey, Seokjin,” someone says from the doorway.</p><p>You and Seokjin look up in unison to see Hyerin leaning against the doorframe. Her arms are crossed, she’s tilting her head as she looks at Seokjin. Her lips are pulled into a tight smile and you swear she’s pointedly not looking at you, as if making eye contact with you will infect her with something.</p><p>
  <em>And she didn’t call him Seokjinnie.</em>
</p><p>His eyebrows furrow and he squirms in his seat, glancing at you for a split second before he looks back at her. “Hey,” he replies, clearing his throat. “What’s– what’s up?”</p><p>“Can I talk to you for a second?”</p><p>Her voice is strained, as if she has to fight to keep it steady. You bite your tongue. This is a good sign. You should be happy it’s all according to plan so far– and yet, a pang of guilt shoots through your chest.</p><p>“Uh… yeah, yeah,” Seokjin replies in a hoarse voice, clearing his throat as he shifts in his seat again. “Y/N, could you…?”</p><p>You nod quickly. “Right, yeah, of course,” you reply hastily, scrambling to your feet. Seokjin is keeping his eyes on the folder in front of him, tapping his pen against the paper; Hyerin still doesn’t spare you a glance. <em>Oh, god. Awkward.</em> “I’ll uh… yeah. I’ll leave you two to…”</p><p>You don’t finish your sentence. Hyerin doesn’t move an inch as you try to slip out of the conference room, and so you shuffle sideways to move past her without having to push her aside. She’s staring at her feet, drumming her fingers on her forearm, and you almost want to apologise to her before you leave – but you stop yourself, simply trudging on to head to your desk.</p><p>The door clicks shut behind Hyerin and you can hear the low hum of her voice just before you walk out of earshot. You wince and let out a sigh, though you force yourself to keep walking until you reach your desk and sit down. You stare at your monitor for a moment, patting your pocket to pull out your phone –</p><p>With a groan, you realise it’s in that damn conference room.</p><p>You lean back in your chair, blowing air into your cheeks and slowly letting them deflate as you look around. You can hear two people talking in the break room, their laughter bleeding into the silence of the nearly empty office. Someone is still sitting at their desk across the room, their desk lamp blindingly bright against the gently glittering skyline behind them. Rubbing your eyes, you lean your elbows on your desk, blinking at the black screen of your computer.</p><p>“Ah, Y/N, I was just about to email you.”</p><p>With a jolt, you sit upright and turn to see Junho walking towards your desk, a wide, jovial smile pulling at his lips. His suit looks impeccable as always, his shined shoes glimmering in the overhead lights with every step he takes. “Wh– Junho, hi,” you greet, plastering on a smile. “What do you need?”</p><p>“Well, I was thinking,” Junho starts, pulling up a chair from an abandoned desk to sit down in front of you. Leaning back, he crosses his legs, folding his hands in his lap. “You’ve been delivering some stellar work since you started here.”</p><p>
  <em>Stellar w– I’ve just been reading transcripts all week.</em>
</p><p>“I see some real talent in you, Y/N,” he continues. Trying to keep your surprise from showing, you simply smile and nod slowly. “You might’ve started here quite recently, but I just know you’re really heading places, and so I wanna give you an opportunity that’ll help you get there.”</p><p>You frown at him, your heart starting to race. <em>What the…</em></p><p>“How about you join the team that’s heading up the Anderson case?”</p><p>Your eyes widen, and you have to fight the urge to gasp. “The– you want me to– <em>what</em>?”</p><p>Junho laughs, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I was gonna have you do some more prep work with Seokjin, but…” He shrugs, chuckles yet again, and realisation dawns on you – <em>he’s offering you a promotion… kinda.</em> “Quite frankly, I just don’t see you getting stuck behind that desk for another five years, you know?”</p><p>Clearing your throat, you look up at him. You can’t bring yourself to nod or smile.</p><p>“Really, it’s wonderful work,” he continues, leaning back with a smile. “People like Seokjin do all the prep stuff for you, you’re the one to put it all together into a neat little package that’ll win us the case, and –”</p><p>He looks up at something behind you, and you turn to see Hyerin storming out of the conference room. Seokjin isn’t far behind. Neither of them is saying a word to each other – Hyerin sniffs into her sleeve as she bursts into the stairwell, and Seokjin is scowling as he heads towards his desk.</p><p>“Speak of the devil,” Junho jokes, sitting up again. He seems to ignore the clear distress of both his employees, simply sending you a warm smile. “Anyways, think about it and let me know.” He stands up from his chair and pats your shoulder. You simply look up at him, dazed. “We’d be happy to have you,” he adds, walking away without another word.</p><p>You’re gaping after him as Seokjin quietly sits down in his seat, leans back.</p><p>“So.”</p><p>You tear your eyes away from Junho, swivelling your chair around to face Seokjin. You fold your hands in your lap, twirling your thumbs as you look down at them. “So.”</p><p>He glances into the direction of Junho’s office, looks back at you. You’re still avoiding his eyes, a heavy sense of guilt settling in your chest. “What was he here for?” he asks, his voice light, airy, and you wince. “Giving us more transcripts to read or something?”</p><p>With a sigh, you chew on your bottom lip. “Something like that, yeah,” you mutter, pressing your thumbs together. You should be happy about the offer, fake or not. It’s an amazing opportunity to gain more experience, even if you can only use it for a limited time – if you’ll be able to use it at all before you leave this place.</p><p>You clear your throat, looking up at him and plastering on a smile. “Anyways, how uh… how’d it go back there?” you quickly ask him, trying to bury the worries in your mind.</p><p>Seokjin scoffs, shakes his head. “Didn’t get much of a word in, but I guess your plan worked,” he replies. He’s smiling, but he looks far from happy, and he rubs his eyes as he sighs once more.</p><p>“So she’s angry?”</p><p>He snorts and drops his hands into his lap. “Oh, she’s mad, alright,” he says softly, his eyes downcast as he frowns at his fidgeting fingers.</p><p>You send him an empathetic smile, leaning forward and resting your elbows on your knees, your chin in your hands. “Hey, you’ll be okay,” you try to reassure him – though, now that you’re hearing yourself speak, you’re not quite sure <em>how</em> exactly that’s supposed to put him at ease. “You’ll get the chance to apologise to her when she’s cooled off and dressed to the nines on Friday, and you’ll make her the happiest girl on Earth.”</p><p>His jaw ticks, he nods slowly. “Yeah, if you say so.”</p><p>With a smile, you playfully poke his knee. “So you’re really one of those ‘communication above all’ type of guys, huh?”</p><p>A small smile pulls at his lips as he lifts his eyes to yours. “What can I say,” he replies with a shrug. “I like my relationships healthy.”</p><p>You can’t help but laugh as you lean back in your chair. “Don’t we all.”</p><p>With a hum, he turns back to his fidgeting fingers. It’s quiet for a moment, so quiet that you can hear someone whistling a soft melody in the break room.</p><p>And abruptly, he sighs and leans back, rubs the spot between his brows to massage the frown out of his skin. “So what was Junho really here for, huh?” he asks, nudging your shin with the tip of his shoe. “Did he wanna talk about the transcripts or not?”</p><p>You fall silent and shift in your seat, suddenly uncomfortable. Averting your eyes from him, you scratch your nose, bite on your lip. Awkwardness pulls your muscles tight and you don’t know <em>why</em> exactly, but you don’t want to tell him what Junho said. <em>Anything</em> he said.</p><p>“What?” Seokjin insists through a laugh, and his lighthearted demeanour only makes you feel more uneasy. “Did he give you the map to Neverland?” He leans forward, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “Are you sworn to secrecy?” he adds in a whisper, his tone almost theatrical.</p><p>With a snort, you shake your head and let your hands drop into your lap. The silence that falls after Seokjin’s question is ear-deafening, almost suffocating, and you force a shaky breath in, an even shakier breath out. “He uh… he wants me to head up a case,” you finally reply. You cautiously glance up at him from underneath your lashes, and with another wince, you see the way his eyebrows shoot up. “The one we’re prepping for.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Your gaze falls back to your lap, your heart pounding in your chest as Seokjin goes quiet. <em>Fuck</em>, you hate his guts – you’re supposed to, at least. Really, you should be rubbing Junho’s offer in his face, and yet you feel <em>so fucking bad</em>. He’s been stuck doing prep work for years, and you just get to skip that phase entirely because you <em>read transcripts</em> <em>for two weeks</em>.</p><p>He scoffs and shakes his head, and your head shoots up in surprise. “Of course he does,” he mutters underneath his breath, laughing bitterly as he runs a hand through his hair. He swivels his chair around to look at his computer, turning on the monitor and needlessly opening his email.</p><p>Your eyebrows furrow as you watch him – he scoffs once more, types a little more aggressively than usual. With a deeper frown, you cross your arms, and the awkwardness fades away. “What, you don’t think I’m good enough for it or something?”</p><p>He lets out yet another laugh – it’s breathy, it’s bitter. He’s avoiding your eyes, keeps typing. “Well, can you blame me for being a little <em>annoyed </em>that he’s just offering you this when you’ve only worked here for, like, two weeks?”</p><p>He doesn’t sound annoyed – he sounds downright angry.</p><p>You blink, your lips parted in confusion. “You do know this is all fake, right?” you breathe out, frowning at the way his jaw ticks. “At the speed we’re going, you’ll get back to being number one in a few days, tops.”</p><p>He rubs his eyes. “That’s not –” He huffs and shakes his head. “Ugh, never mind,” he mutters underneath his breath, staring at the computer screen. “I should’ve known.”</p><p>You bite your tongue to keep your reply from slipping out, and yet– “Jesus, if you’re having such a bad time working here, why do you even bother staying?” you snap, scowling at him. “Or do you just love the client stealing too much to –”</p><p>“Jesus Christ, will you let that go?” he shouts, his mouth snapping closed as soon as the words leave his lips. He shiftily looks around the office as he lets out a long breath, lowering his voice as he continues, “It’s not my fault we’ve got these idiotic client quotas.”</p><p>You frown. His cheeks are flushing red and you don’t think you’ve seen him this wound up before, his fingers curled up into tight fists as his leg bounces up and down. “And yeah, I feel really fucking shitty about it, and I know it’s really fucking selfish but –” He takes a deep breath in, lets it back out– and you notice it sounds <em>shaky</em>. “But I never take too many clients away because I’m– I don’t wanna be that person, and –” He shakes his head and heaves another sigh, his shoulders deflating as he looks down at his hands. “And I just wanna help people and I don’t know how else– <em>where</em> else to do it and I just…”</p><p>He falls silent.</p><p>You blink. Your heart pounds for some reason and you stare at him, quiet, your breathing slow. He lifts his head to look at you; his eyebrows are furrowed and he’s gritting his teeth, fidgeting with his fingers. His eyes look shiny, more so than usual. For a brief second, you think that those might be <em>tears</em> you’re seeing, and your anger starts to falter –</p><p>But before you can truly be sure, he clears his throat, diverts his gaze back down to his hands. “Listen, I –” he starts. His voice is hoarse, and he clears his throat once more. “I’m sorry, Y/N,” he says just as hoarsely, refusing to meet your eyes. You let out a sharp breath, and something tightens in your chest. “I really am, and I– I never would’ve done it if I didn’t think I had to, which is a shitty excuse considering everything I did but…”</p><p>Your heart pounds harder. “Hey, it’s –” Without much thought, you lean forward and put a hand on his forearm – he tenses underneath your palm. You quickly pull your hand away, biting your lip. “We’ll figure this out once we get out of here,” you mutter. You know you should probably say something, acknowledge his apology at the very least, but you can’t get yourself to form even a simple sentence.</p><p>Besides, you don’t really know what you want to say in the first place. You <em>despise </em>him, you’ve hated him ever since he set foot into your firm; you’ve resented him for being a bad person taking up the job of someone <em>good</em>.</p><p>And you <em>loathe </em>the guy because you can’t keep sticking to that anymore. Because it’s all the same ambition you would’ve had in his position.</p><p>You fold your hands together and squeeze them tightly. “Tomorrow,” you add firmly. “We’ll be out of here by tomorrow, and we can just move on with our lives.”</p><p>“Tomorrow,” he repeats, much more softly. With a sharp sigh, he gets up from his seat, heading back towards the conference room. He’s still refusing to look at you.</p><p>You bite your lip and watch him as he walks away, his footsteps dull against the carpeted floor.</p><p>He didn’t sound very convinced– <em>nor did he sound happy.</em></p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, you okay?”</p><p>You look up from your laptop, your piece of pizza stopping just inches away from your mouth. The movie you’ve been watching keeps playing in the background, but the low, husky voice of the main actor goes ignored by both you and Sooyeon.</p><p>“Yeah, just tired,” you tell her with a small smile, taking a bite of pizza. “Why?”</p><p>Sooyeon narrows her eyes and crosses her arms, leaning against the doorframe. Your eyes flicker down to her torso and you briefly wonder why she’s wearing a hoodie when the summer nights are just as hot as the days, only to realise you have working airconditioning in this universe. “Because you’re quiet.”</p><p>Your eyebrows furrow. <em>Weren’t you being subtle enough? </em>“Really, I’m fine, Sooyeon, but thank you,” you insist, glancing at your laptop only to see the main couple making out already – you rush to pause the movie, quickly rewinding a few seconds.</p><p>“You sure?” she insists, tilting her head. “Nothing that happened at work?”</p><p>You fight the urge to ask her <em>how, how in the world do you even know that?</em> You take another bite of pizza, staring at the still frame on your screen, a close-up of the main actress’s distraught face. “Well, you know, a lot happened,” you reply with a shrug, staring at your pizza, studying the way the toppings peek out from underneath the cheese. You’re chewing on your lip, trying to ignore the way her words are already picking at the thin veil you’ve put over the tension that’s been sitting in the pit of your stomach for hours. “It was a busy day.”</p><p>“So what sucked specifically?”</p><p>You can’t help but laugh, rubbing your tired eyes. You don’t exactly feel like lying and coming up with something else, but you don’t exactly feel like talking about it, either. “I don’t know,” you say through a sigh, shuffling back until you’re leaning against the headboard, and you absently munch on the piece of pizza still in your hand. “Colleague stuff.”</p><p>Sooyeon gasps and shoots forward, settling down on the edge of your bed. “Did something happen with that Seokjin guy?”</p><p>You blink at her. <em>Jesus, where does she get her intel?</em> “I –” You snort, taking another bite of your pizza. “Yeah, kinda.”</p><p>Sooyeon’s eyes glimmer with excitement, and she leans forward with a smile curling at her lips. “Tell me everything.”</p><p>You laugh and shake your head, staring down at your plate. “It’s nothing interesting, really,” you say, picking up a slice and handing it to her. She hums happily and takes it from you, smiling as she bites off almost half of it at once. “We just… some things about the past came to light, I guess.”</p><p>Sooyeon simply hums and nods, her eyes still raised as if she’s expecting you to elaborate. And with the enormous bite of pizza she’s still working on, you can’t exactly wait for her to fill the silence for you.</p><p>“And uh… well, I think he’s kinda mad at me, for starters, but –” You pause and let out a sigh, shaking your head. <em>Why is she interrogating you like this, anyway? You’re not even the main romantic interest, your feelings don’t matter here.</em></p><p>She swallows and lowers her pizza into her lap. “But you don’t feel bad or something?” she fills in, tilting her head.</p><p>With a bitter laugh, you take another bite. “Well, that’s the thing,” you reply, avoiding her eyes. Seokjin’s face flashes through your mind, the way he’d looked from up close when you were hiding from Hyerin, the way something inside you had wanted to just lean a little bit closer– and the way he’d scowled just before you parted ways just a few hours ago. You wince, shaking your head. “I think I do.”</p><p>An amused smile pulls at Sooyeon’s lips, and she raises an eyebrow. “And that’s bad because?”</p><p>With a heavy sigh, you lean your head against the wall behind you and you blink up at the ceiling, studying the pristine white surface. “Because,” you huff, your eyes fluttering closed. “Because –” You pause. <em>Why</em> is that bad, indeed?</p><p>
  <em>Because he’s an asshole, and you shouldn’t feel bad for– well, he’s not exactly an asshole, if you think about it. Just ambitious, and all the smugness and the sarcasm is actually kind of bearable when you realise he’s not actually a bad person, per se, and–</em>
</p><p>You shake your head. “I don’t know,” you say through another sigh, chewing your lip as your mind keeps racing. “Guess I just don’t like the idea that I actually might’ve hurt him when he didn’t even –” You cut yourself off, shaking your head once more. “It’s whatever.”</p><p>With a smile, Sooyeon sits up and takes the last bite of her pizza. “Seems like you just need to apologise for whatever you feel bad about, honey,” she tells you, patting your knee. You tear your eyes away from the ceiling to look at her instead, still chewing on your bottom lip. “‘S all you can do, right?”</p><p><em>Yeah, just apologise, get back to the real world, and– and, what, try to make peace?</em> You sigh. It doesn’t feel satisfying, to just make peace and move on, to –</p><p>You nod slowly regardless. You’ll see once you’re back. Your feelings don’t matter here, anyway – there’s no use in trying to figure them out if they won’t move the plot forward. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”</p><p>Sooyeon claps her hands and steals another piece of pizza from your plate, cheerfully hopping onto her feet. “Lemme know how it goes, yeah?” she says as she walks towards your doorway.</p><p>Taking a breath, you plaster on a smile and nod once more. “Thank you, I will,” you reply, straightening your back. “As long as you keep me updated on the Jessica situation, hm?” you add with a more genuine smile, raising your eyebrows at her.</p><p>She laughs it off, though you clearly see the way her cheeks flush bright red. “Couldn’t survive it without you laughing at my blunders,” she jokes as she skips out of your room, and you can’t help but laugh. “You can do it, babe!” she calls, her voice dying out as she walks back towards the living room.</p><p>“Thanks!” you shout in response, looking back at your laptop screen as you heave a sigh.</p><p>You wish you had the same confidence.</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You let out a sigh, smoothing over your skirt as you look around. The sun set hours ago but it’s unusually bright, the streets flooded with light from the street lamps, neon signs, bars and restaurants around you. When you look up at the sky, however, it’s filled with more stars than you think you’ve ever seen on one night, and you almost laugh at the absurdity of it. <em>Classic.</em></p><p>Fumbling with the hem of your skirt, you glance over your shoulder at the bar behind you. Chatter spills into the streets, only adding to the traffic noise, the laughter that already fills the bustling streets. It’s a hot summer night, but despite it all, a shiver runs down your spine.</p><p>This might be it.</p><p>You look around again, squinting as you let your eyes glance over the crowded streets. Raising up on your tiptoes for a moment, you try to look even further – nothing. Biting your lip, you dig through your purse to pull your phone, and you turn on the screen.</p><p>
  <em>20:37.</em>
</p><p>He’s late. You lift your head to look around once more, puffing up your cheeks and letting them deflate again.</p><p>“What the hell are you doing outside?”</p><p>You jolt and whirl around, your heart pounding in your chest. Seokjin stops in front of you, his hands dug into the pockets of his jeans. Your eyes flicker down, then up, then down again, and you blink – you don’t think you’ve ever seen him in anything but a suit. Jeans and an oversized white T-shirt almost seem adventurous on him.</p><p>“What do you mean, what am I doing outside?” you huff, crossing your arms. His eyes catch the glittering light from the surrounding bars and they shimmer as he looks down at you – you fight the urge to scowl. <em>Unfair advantage. </em>“I was waiting for you, dumbass.”</p><p>He scoffs, shaking his head. “I thought you said we shouldn’t be seen together outside of work,” he replies, glancing at the bar and waving at a few people you’re not sure he even knows. “What, with the whole grand gesture I’m supposed to make and all?”</p><p>He looks back at you. The smile and the warmth you’ve grown accustomed to – much against your own will, of course – are gone, and even the smugness he usually emanates is nowhere to be found. Appalled, you realise that you <em>miss</em> them. “I just –”</p><p>
  <em>I wanted to apologise, too.</em>
</p><p>“You what?”</p><p>He sounds snappy and annoyed, he’s tapping his foot, his eyebrows raised – and the words quickly die in your throat. With a huff, you roll your eyes instead. “I just wanted to make sure you still remember the plan, alright?” you snap in reply. “We’ve got a lot hanging in the balance here.”</p><p>His jaw ticks and he lets out yet another sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll talk to her, I’ll apologise, make a big declaration of love and we’ll be out of here,” he rattles off in a monotone voice, not even sparing you a look. “Happy?” he says, staring into the distance instead.</p><p>You breathe out sharply, biting your tongue. “Sure, whatever.” <em>He doesn’t care, anyway.</em> “Good luck, I guess.”</p><p>He grunts in reply, whirls around and practically stomps off to the bar. You rush to follow him inside, but you lose him in the packed space almost right away. You come to a stop somewhere in the middle, needlessly looking around for a face you know, someone you can talk with to spend your time – but you don’t know <em>anyone</em> here but Seokjin. The asshole crept in and took over your life without you even realising, and now you’re alone with nothing else to do than stare at your phone and wait for Seokjin to get you out of here.</p><p>
  <em>Wonderful.</em>
</p><p>Someone bumps into your shoulder, mumbles a quick <em>sorry</em> as you struggle to stay on your feet because of those <em>goddamn</em> heels you keep having to wear. You scowl down at them, trying to wiggle your already aching toes, and you huff. You can’t even take them off here, and it just makes you more tired. Seokjin would probably laugh and make some snarky remark about it, and you wouldn’t be thinking about how much these heels are annoying you anymore because he’d be more annoying but in a <em>good</em> way, really, and –</p><p>You quickly shake your head to come back to your senses. <em>You need a drink.</em></p><p>“Hey, Y/N!” calls a familiar voice, travelling even through the loud chatter that fills your ears.</p><p>You turn to look at the source before you can fully process the sound, and you let out a heavy sigh as your eyes fall on Junho, who’s smiling brightly at you. <em>There’s no way you can slip out without him knowing you’re avoiding him, right?</em> “Ah, hi,” you greet him as cheerfully as you can, walking towards him.</p><p>“I wanted to introduce you to some of the guys you’re gonna be working with,” he elaborates, gesturing towards the colleagues you’ve never even <em>seen</em> in the office. “Guys, this is Y/N,” he tells them, putting a hand on your shoulder to usher you further into the circle. You go along with it, begrudgingly so. “She’s a wonderfully talented lawyer, and I’m sure she’ll be a great addition to the team.”</p><p>You plaster on a smile as you shake everyone’s hands and repeat their names, only to forget them a second later. You probably won’t even see them after tonight, anyway – and even if you were to stay here longer, you have an inkling you’ll barely be working with them again, considering the sheer size of the crowd of colleagues around you.</p><p>You can’t wait to get back to your small-ass office.</p><p>“So, have you thought about the offer?” Junho asks as the conversation returns to work and golf. You turn to face Junho, chewing on the inside of your cheek as you try to keep up your smile. “I don’t wanna be calling them out so directly, but they really need the help, you know,” he adds, laughing jovially as he winks at you.</p><p>You chuckle along, though only weakly – fortunately, Junho doesn’t seem to care all that much. “Should you –” You clear your throat. “Maybe Seokjin would be a better fit?” The words leave your mouth before you even realise you’re saying them, and you immediately want to take them back because <em>god dammit. You’re recommending Seokjin for a job, over you.</em></p><p>
  <em>This is not happening.</em>
</p><p>Your mind is already conjuring up Seokjin’s wide grin, imagining the smugness dripping off his words while he makes a remark about you finally realising he’s the better lawyer, and you want to <em>punch</em> him.</p><p>Well, at least you wouldn’t be feeling very shitty anymore.</p><p>“Wh– Seokjin?” Junho almost <em>laughs</em> at your suggestion, and your eyebrows furrow in disbelief. “I think he’s fine where he is, really, he’s really very good at the supporting –”</p><p>“I– with all due respect, Junho, he could be even better doing more than just prep work,” you blurt out in protest.</p><p>Junho falls silent, and he blinks for a moment. While you’re trying to keep a straight face under his surprise, you’re internally screaming at yourself because <em>what the hell are you doing? Why the hell are you standing up for Seokjin? How the fuck are you –</em></p><p>Junho’s eyes abruptly leave your face to look at something behind you, and his surprise is replaced by the same overly polite smile he greeted you with. “Hey, what a wonderful coincidence!” he says, straightening his back. “We were just –”</p><p>Before you can turn around to look over your shoulder, a hand wraps around your arm and pulls you towards the exit; you yelp and stumble, catching yourself just before you fall to the ground. Junho’s surprised reaction melts into the background noise as Seokjin drags you out of the bar, passing through a group of nameless colleagues to step back into the hot summer night.</p><p>You finally get past your initial surprise and try to pull yourself free. “Hey, what the fuck?”</p><p>Seokjin ignores you, pulls you further away from the bar – you trip over a loose street tile, stumble again, and suddenly the heel of your foot seems to sink into the ground. Abruptly, you lose your balance and fall into Seokjin’s side, and his arms come around you before either of your realise what’s happening. Holding tightly onto his shirt, you scramble back up and look down at your feet to see what the hell happened.</p><p>“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking <em>shitting</em> me,” you huff. Your shoe is still on your foot, but the broken heel lays just a step behind it. You swiftly bend down and pick it up, straightening up to frown at Seokjin. He’s turned his back to you, his arms crossed as he watches the traffic drive past ever so slowly. “Seriously, what the fuck, man? Couldn’t find a way to get me outside like a normal person?”</p><p>Silence.</p><p>He shakes his head, looks down at his shoes.</p><p>“Dude, are you gonna say anything?” you breathe out, clumsily taking a step forward. “You can’t just –”</p><p>“It didn’t work,” he interrupts. He whirls around to face you, frowning deeply.</p><p>Your jaw drops, your heart pounds in your chest. The resistance flows right out of you. “Wh– what?”</p><p>
  <em>Maybe you misheard him. Maybe you’re not reading his face correctly. Maybe –</em>
</p><p>He sighs, his jaw ticks as he averts his eyes, and even his reaction feels like a punch to the gut because – “I did everything you said, and it didn’t work.”</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You shift, the cool street tiles feel rough against your skin. Ignoring the discomfort, you wiggle the bare toes of your right foot, bumping them against your left foot, still safely inside its shoe. The thin material of your pantyhose is already showing holes even though you’ve been hopping around on your shoed foot– but, really, you couldn’t care less.</p><p>You’re <em>stuck</em>.</p><p>The plan didn’t work. The only plan to get you out of here <em>did not work</em>.</p><p>Your eyes flutter closed as you lean back against the brick wall behind you, lifting your gaze up to the night sky. It looks even starrier than before, and it glitters almost as much as the city skyline does when you’re working late.</p><p>
  <em>A sight you’ll get to see much more often now.</em>
</p><p>Seokjin heaves a sigh next to you, picking at the denim fabric stretched over his knee. He’s pouting at it, his shoulders deflated, his eyebrows furrowed as he traces a circle on his kneecap. The silence between you has been going on for what feels like an eternity now, but you can’t find the words to break it – you don’t know what to do, what to say.</p><p>You quickly avert your eyes to your fidgeting fingers, letting out another sigh and shaking your head. You’re stuck here, and it’s all your <em>fucking</em> fault. You should’ve thought about it more, you should’ve stopped to take a step back and really look at what you’re doing, to make sure your plan was the right one. But you <em>didn’t</em>, and you fucked it all up instead – and you pulled Seokjin down with you. The first time he seemed to trust you even the slightest bit, the first time you actually were doing more than just throwing insults back and forth, you <em>fucked it all up</em>.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>He looks up, the frown on his face grows deeper. Surprise is brimming in his eyes as he blinks at you, and he tilts his head. “Huh?”</p><p>You refuse to meet his eyes, chewing your lip as you look down at your hands, nervously picking at the immaculate nude polish on your nails. “Sorry for uh… well, everything,” you say through a sigh, shaking your head. “I really thought the plan would –”</p><p>Seokjin laughs breathily, and the rest of your sentence dies on your tongue. He’s <em>laughing</em> – now? “Okay, as much as I’d love to listen to you finally admitting you’re an idiot, I –” His smile falters as he looks down at his hands, folding them together. “You really don’t have to.”</p><p>“I do, though,” you say through a sigh, leaning forward to pick up a small pebble, turning it in your fingers and running your index along the rough edges. “I mean, I made you date a girl without even asking if you actually wanted to, and then I made you make her hate you, and I –”</p><p>“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t want to, Y/N,” Seokjin interrupts, looking down as he absently drags his finger over the rough pavement. A group of laughing, cackling drunks walks by, and you watch in amusement as they stumble past you. “It might sound weird, but I trusted you to –”</p><p>“But see, that makes it even worse,” you huff, tossing the pebble into the road and watching as a car drives over it. With a sigh, you lean back against the wall, the rough bricks pressing into your spine as a warm breeze plays with your hair. “You did all of this shitty stuff because you trusted me, and I put all of the responsibility on you and it didn’t work, and…”</p><p>You sigh, shaking your head.</p><p>Seokjin hums, and you swear you can see him smile from the corner of your eye. “Well, at least we tried,” he says with a shrug. Your eyebrows furrow, and you look up at him. “We’ll go for it if we get another chance somehow, but…”</p><p>When he trails off and falls silent, your frown deepens. You shuffle a little closer to him until your hip bumps against his. “Seokjin –”</p><p>“I mean, would it really be that bad, being stuck here?”</p><p>He lifts his head, his eyes big as they gaze at you. Up close like this, you can see the way the stars reflect in his pupils and your heart skips a beat. Gritting your teeth, you tear your eyes away from him and you look down instead. “I don’t…”</p><p>“We’re literally living in a <em>movie</em>, Y/N, our lives are <em>perfect</em>– hell, you said so yourself,” he insists, sighing deeply as he averts his eyes to look at the stars. “I live in a two-bedroom apartment with a goddamn balcony and I don’t think I’m paying a dime in rent.”</p><p>You snort. “You should probably check that before you get kicked out,” you mutter, pulling at your thin pantyhose and letting it snap back into place. “I just…”</p><p>Seokjin looks at you, expectant– and with a laugh, you shake your head.</p><p>“What?” he asks, and you laugh again. He chuckles in response, though he’s clearly not even sure if he <em>should</em> be laughing here, and he lightly elbows your side. “What is it?”</p><p>“No, it’s…” You lift your eyes to look at him, chewing on your bottom lip. “You know, I’ve been eyeing your job ever since I graduated, and I thought I was finally gonna start living the dream when I got it.”</p><p>He tilts his head, a tight smile teased over his lips. “You thought,” he questions, his voice gentle.</p><p>With a scoff, you look back down at the pavement, rolling a pebble around underneath your index finger. “I just… you keep saying that this is it, right? This is all there is to it?” You look back up at Seokjin. “Sitting behind a desk, doing prep work all day unless Junho deems you good enough to do more?”</p><p>He nods slowly, avoiding your eyes.</p><p>You let out a sigh as you lean back against the wall, staring at the traffic slowly driving by in front of you. “It’s just not…” You huff, shaking your head. “I don’t know. Maybe I just need to get used to it, but…”</p><p>“It kinda sucks,” Seokjin finishes your sentence, his eyes following a shiny black SUV with a loud engine.</p><p>You hum. <em>Just what you were afraid of.</em> Chewing on your bottom lip, you keep your eyes downcast as drunken laughter, drunken shouting echoes through the street, and someone cheers in the distance. “Can I ask you a question, though?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>You glance at him from the corner of your eye, watching as he ruffles a hand through his hair to adjust the way his bangs fall over his forehead, and you quickly look back down at the rough street tiles. “If you hate your job so much, why do you stay?” You pause. “Seriously this time.”</p><p>He lets out a bitter laugh, and he shrugs as he tries to rub out a scuff on the back of his shoe. “Sunk cost fallacy, maybe,” he mutters in reply, letting out a sigh. “I’ve been here for over five years now, you know– I’ve stolen so many clients at this point that it feels like a waste to give all of that up.”</p><p>“But you want to.”</p><p>He laughs yet again, though his smile fades all too quickly, and his jaw ticks. “Maybe.” He shrugs, rubbing his shoe a little more fervently. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I have a big say in it right now, considering we’re not even in our actual universe.”</p><p>With a snort, you lean your head against the wall, lifting your eyes to look up at the sky. “Yeah,” you say through a soft sigh, staring up at the stars glittering in the sea of darkness. You feel warm, and even though the street tiles are hard and rough through the thin fabric of your skirt and your pantyhose, you feel like you could sit here next to Seokjin for hours more.</p><p>“Hey,” he mutters, shuffling a little closer to you and elbowing your side. You raise an eyebrow and look at him, trying to ignore how close his face is, trying to ignore the way you can feel your heart… flutter. <em>You should get that checked. </em>“We’ll find a way.”</p><p>You laugh softly, poking his arm. “Look at you, being all nice and reassuring.”</p><p>He chuckles and shrugs, leaning his elbows on his knees and staring at the oncoming traffic. “What can I say, I do have my charming side,” he replies, a smile curling at his lips.</p><p>You can’t stop looking at him. “Well, you know, it’s hard to see your good side past all the… annoying,” you remark with a smile.</p><p>He snorts. “Tell me about it.” You can’t help but smile as you tear your eyes away from him, biting your lip. A short silence falls, but you notice him tapping his knee in irregular rhythms, chewing on the inside of his cheek, taking a breath as if he’s about to– “Speaking of,” he starts, and you look up at him. “I wanted to apologise, too.”</p><p>Your eyes widen and your brows shoot up. “What?” you blurt out, blinking at him in confusion. “What for?”</p><p>He laughs softly, and you notice the way his eyes crinkle in the corners. He looks down at the pavement, flicking small gravel stones away as you wait for him to continue. “I’m sorry for being a dick about Junho’s offer,” he mutters, letting out a sigh. “It’s– I shouldn’t have. You’re talented, and hardworking, and passionate, and– well, you know. You deserve it more than anyone.”</p><p>Your lips part as the words sink in, slowly but surely making a blush rise to your cheeks, a smile pulling at your lips. Quite frankly, you have no idea what to say – you didn’t even expect him to apologise, but this…</p><p>You try to keep your bashful smile at bay. “Are you… <em>complimenting</em> me, Kim?”</p><p>“Oh, shut up,” he says through a laugh, averting his eyes to a random bar across the street.</p><p>You grin down at your hands, picking at your nail polish once more. “Same to you, though,” you mumble, trying not to look at him. “And uh… off the record, I think you deserved it more than me.”</p><p>A pause. “Thanks,” comes the soft reply, his voice so gentle that you can barely recognise it.</p><p>You nod, and silence falls over you like a warm blanket. Letting out a slow breath, you look up at the sky again, too lazy to count the stars or look for patterns. You simply stare at the way they twinkle, the way the moon shines so brightly. It all looks so peaceful, and you could almost forget about all the bullshit that’s been going on. <em>Almost.</em></p><p>“Let’s just go home and get some rest,” he mutters, pushing himself up to his feet with a soft groan. “We’ll reconvene in the morning,” he adds as he brushes small gravel stones off the back of his pants.</p><p>He holds out his hand to you, and you tear your eyes away from the stars to look at Seokjin instead. The street lantern behind him paints a circle of soft yellow light around his frame, and you almost let out a laugh. <em>God, this universe just keeps getting more and more obvious, doesn’t it?</em></p><p>“Yeah, alright,” you say through a sigh, wrapping your hand around his, and he swiftly pulls you up.</p><p>As you try to set your bare foot on the ground, you lose your balance for just a moment but Seokjin puts an arm around your waist to keep you up, and you mutter a quick ‘thanks’ as you regain your balance, smoothing out your skirt, looking back up at him and seeing that same aura of light glowing around him, and you –</p><p>
  <em>Hold on.</em>
</p><p>Seokjin’s brows furrow. “You okay?” he asks, but you keep staring with wide eyes and parted lips, your heart beating a million miles an hour because <em>holy shit</em>. “Earth to Y/N,” he says through a nervous laugh, waving his hand in front of your face.</p><p>You blink, jolting back to consciousness. “Y-you have to kiss me.”</p><p>Seokjin falls silent, and it’s his turn to blink at you in shock. “Wh– I have to <em>what</em>?”</p><p>You step back and lean against the wall, suddenly feeling short of breath, your cheeks so hot you’d think the summer sun was still beating down on them. “It– it wasn’t a love triangle,” you breathe out, burying your face in your palms and frantically shaking your head. “Well, it was, only– only we were focusing on the wrong couple, and now we’re –”</p><p>“Hold on, hold on, just –” he interrupts. He looks around and takes a step closer, lowering his voice. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”</p><p>You drop your hands back to your sides, looking up at him. “Yeah,” you breathe out, and his frown only deepens. “It’s– I don’t know, it’s just the only thing that’s making sense right now.”</p><p>He blinks, his eyebrows twitch. “How does literally <em>any</em> of this make sense?” he breathes out, spreading out his arms to gesture to his surroundings.</p><p>You can’t help but let out a breathy laugh, leaning back against the wall and glancing up at the sky, so full with stars despite the light pollution around you. “It <em>doesn’t</em>, not really, but– it <em>does</em>,” you return, crossing your arms and looking at him – Seokjin just looks more confused. “Dude, it’s been an enemies to lovers movie this entire time.”</p><p>His eyes widen, his lips part in surprise, and he blinks at you. “I– what?”</p><p>You breathe out a laugh, rubbing your eyes. “We’re– at least, we were enemies before we got dropped into this universe, right? And we were only put together because I magically got a job interview at your company and Junho just so <em>happened</em> to put us on the same assignment– that’s not suspicious to you at all?”</p><p>“So, what, we were just supposed to fall for each other?”</p><p>You stare up at him and breathe out slowly, chewing on your bottom lip. “Probably.”</p><p>His shoulders deflate and his back hits the wall right next to you. He crosses his arms, drums his fingers on his arm, looks up at the stars. “And here I thought I still had a little bit of freedom left,” he mutters, chuckling bitterly.</p><p>You frown at him, your heart stutters. “Huh?”</p><p>He refuses to look at you. “Listen, I thought I was going <em>insane</em>, alright?” he sighs, shaking his head as his eyes focus on the moon. Your frown deepens and you shift against the wall to face him, leaning your shoulder against the rough bricks. “You kept telling me that I was meant to fall for this girl and I just– it didn’t <em>happen</em>, and instead I just…”</p><p>He abruptly falls silent, his gaze drops to his feet.</p><p>Your heart is pounding for some reason and curiosity burns in your chest. You try to keep it in, to give him time, to – “You what?”</p><p>His eyes snap to look at you. He looks <em>tense</em>, his lips pursed into a straight line.</p><p>
  <em>Great. Good job. You totally got him to talk to you, what a spectacular–</em>
</p><p>“But instead, I…” He grits his teeth and turns his head away, his eyes fluttering as he shakes his head. The pause that falls is excruciatingly long, the sounds around you fade to the background and yet they’re still ear-deafening, and you can only look at him and wait– which just makes it worse.</p><p>He lowers his head and lets out a long breath, though you swear you see the beginnings of a smile pulling at his lips.</p><p>“The more I was supposed to like <em>her</em>, the more I grew to like <em>you</em>.”</p><p>Your lips part. A faint blush dusts his cheeks, the tips of his ears, and he grows redder the longer your look at him. He’s pursing his lips as if he hasn’t quite realised what he just said, and it takes you a while until you fully process his words yourself.</p><p>“You– are you –” you stammer finally, clearing your throat and averting your eyes, taking a breath to say something– only to let it back out, quickly shaking your head.</p><p>As confusing as his words are, though, you can’t help but feel <em>relieved</em>– because it all just clicks. You let out a sharp breath, blinking up at him as you try to catch up with your racing mind. All this time, you weren’t just tolerating the guy just so you could get out of here. <em>Dammit</em>, you actually like spending time with him, and talking to him, and just <em>looking</em> at him. Without all the hatred and the anger and the frustration, it all became so easy that you never stopped to think –</p><p>Seokjin bites his lip at your silence, and he lets out a sharp breath. “Hey, listen, I –” His eyes are brimming with what you think is <em>fear</em> but– but that can’t be it. “I mean, I can’t say I didn’t mean it but I shouldn’t have said it and I’m an <em>idiot </em>when it comes to this stuff –”</p><p>“Okay, hey,” you interrupt him, almost letting out a laugh at the sudden change in behaviour. A siren wails in the distance as he looks back up at you, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide. “I– then– this entire plot might’ve actually <em>worked</em>.”</p><p>He blinks rapidly, his eyebrows drawing together into a deep frown. “Huh?”</p><p>You bite your bottom lip, taking in a deep breath and letting it back out in a sigh. “Well, I mean…” you trail off, shrugging timidly.</p><p>He pauses. The confusion on his face starts to clear up and he nods very, very slowly– and a small smile twitches at his lips right before he suppresses it. “I don’t think I really understand what you’re saying, Y/N,” he says, leaning a little closer and angling his ear to you. “Could you just– make that really clear for me? My head has been pretty woozy tonight, you know, beer fumes or whatever.”</p><p>You huff and narrow your eyes at him, unable to keep a nervous smile at bay. “What, you want me to tell you I like you back? Is that it?”</p><p>His grin grows wider, he leans even closer. “Huh?” he says loudly, and you let out a laugh despite yourself. “I didn’t quite get that, those drunk people two blocks away are really making it hard to understand.”</p><p>You try to keep up your annoyed front, try not to let the smile break it, and you cross your arms as he just <em>waits</em>. “You’re insufferable, you know that, right?”</p><p>He turns his ear further towards you.</p><p>Letting out another laugh, you shake your head and blink up at the sky for a moment before turning back to him. You take his chin between your fingers to turn his face to you so you’re talking to him rather than his ear, and you take a step closer as your arm drops back to your side. “Kim Seokjin, I may or may not –” He raises an eyebrow, a smile pulls at his lips as you fumble with the hem of your skirt. “Okay, alright, I like you,” you rush out, and a burst of nerves shoots through your veins. You shrug to mask it. “Or whatever.”</p><p>He snorts, his eyes flickering to his feet before he looks back up at you once more. “What a wonderful confession,” he teases, and you laugh. “I’m guessing this will go down in the romcom history books, huh?”</p><p>You bite your lip, a smile pulling at your lips. “Just– see, this is the moment where we get to the kissing part so we can get <em>out of here</em>,” you tell him pointedly, raising an eyebrow at him.</p><p>But Seokjin simply grins. “Ah, so little miss Coffee Spiller wants to make out, now, does she?”</p><p>You ignore the teasing, pursing your lips to hold back more nervous laughter. “You don’t?”</p><p>He takes a step forward and you take a step back, your back hitting the brick wall. Your eyes flicker down to his lips as he takes another step closer, and you can feel the warmth of his chest pressing against yours. You wonder if he notices how fast your heart is rabbitting against your ribs, how hot your cheeks are. It would explain the grin.</p><p>“Well, you know…” he mutters lowly, tilting his head. You swear you see his eyes flicker down to your lips, too, and even the idea of it makes a giddy feeling bloom in your chest. “I was gonna get to that.”</p><p>You hum and nod slowly, your heart still pounding as you raise up on your tiptoes to gain just a few more inches. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you don’t wait for him to lean in, and you kiss him – and everything just… falls into place. The drunken yelling in the distance fades, the roaring car engines soften to a mere hum. Seokjin stiffens for just a moment before he lets out a soft breath, wrapping his arms around your waist to pull you against his chest. Your fingers run through his hair as his nose rubs against yours, your shoulders move against the cold bricks behind you – yet he feels so soft and so warm that you only want to tug him further into you. You can taste beer on his tongue, you can feel his nose bumping into your cheek as his head dips down. Your heart hammers in time with the fast bass beat booming in a bar across the street, but you can only relax against him.</p><p>When he pulls back slightly to catch his breath, your fingers are tangled in his soft hair, your eyes are still closed and his forehead presses against yours.</p><p>He lets out a breathy laugh, licks his lips. “Well.”</p><p>You smile and bite your lip. “Uh-huh.”</p><p>You didn’t realise he’d be <em>this</em> good at it, and you’ve suddenly forgotten all about the situation you’re in, you’ve forgotten why you’re here making out with him in the first place, and you just grip his collar, pulling him back in because <em>dammit</em>, you need that again.</p><p>He grins against your lips, almost as if to tease you for kissing him again. It only lasts a moment before he composes himself, though, his fingers pressing into your hips as your fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt – you still huff at him. His grin only grows wider, and you almost pull back to scowl and poke his chest. The bastard really thinks he can get away with anything now that you’re not cursing him out for everything, and– okay, maybe he’s right about that one, <em>maybe</em> you like him too much to actually be annoyed at him for something that just seems endearing to you now, but that doesn’t mean –</p><p> </p><p>-:-:-:-</p><p> </p><p>You shoot up with a gasp.</p><p>A cold slice of pizza falls off your chest and into your lap, and <em>of course</em> it ends up smearing the toppings all over your bare thigh. You curse underneath your breath, dazedly looking around your room for the plate before you find it right next to you on your bed. You quickly throw most of the pizza on there, scowling when you fail to scrape all of the tomato sauce off your thigh and it already starts to grow sticky.</p><p>Putting the plate away, you blink at your room for a moment, dazed and disoriented and –</p><p>You gasp again, your eyes popping wide open as you jump out of bed. Loud car engines, a rumbling motorcycle, shouting, honking, pure <em>noise</em> pulls your eyes to the half-open window, and you wince as someone honks for ten seconds straight before doing it twice more. The clothes you ‘forgot’ to put away before you fell asleep are still hanging over the back of your chair, and your laptop is sitting half open on your bed, the screen a little dusty, a little dirty. <em>This is your room. Your actual room.</em></p><p>
  <em>It worked. It fucking worked.</em>
</p><p>You dash into the hallway, gasping with elation when you notice it is indeed your <em>actual</em> dingy apartment hallway, and you practically run into the living room to see Sooyeon sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal in her lap. She lifts her head and sends you a tired smile. “Good morning,” she greets you casually before turning back to her phone, barely even noticing the way you’re looking around. No dishwasher, dirty dishes piled in the sink, only three lamps spread out through the entire room.</p><p>“Good fucking morning indeed,” you say with a grin, your heart pounding with joy. <em>Holy shit, you really are back.</em> “Have a good date?”</p><p>Sooyeon laughs, nods slowly. “Uh… I guess so?” she says, looking over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow as she eats a spoonful of cereal. “What the fuck is up with you?” she says through an airy laugh, her voice slightly muffled and her left cheek bulging subtly.</p><p>You shake your head as you walk backwards towards your room. “Just…” You sigh happily, looking around at the broken-white walls, smiling up at the oh-so-familiar crack in the ceiling. “I had the strangest dream and I’m just glad to be up, you know?”</p><p>You can hear Sooyeon snort as you step into your room and close the door behind you. With a sigh and a smile on your face, you glance at your alarm clock– only for the relief to drain from you in an instant, and you curse and dash over to your wardrobe. <em>Of course you woke up thirty minutes before work.</em></p><p>For some reason, though, you’re more than happy to hastily wash the tomato sauce off your leg, jump into your clothes, and quickly get ready for the day, only grabbing a dry slice of bread from the almost empty cupboards above the dirty sink. You’re more than happy to rush through the hot and sticky summer morning, to face the regular city stench and sidestep someone only inches away from accidentally spilling their coffee on you. And all throughout it, your grin never falters. Because you’re <em>back</em>. You get to live a <em>normal</em> life again, and –</p><p>
  <em>Would Seokjin be back, as well?</em>
</p><p>You glance down at your phone as you turn a corner, your shoulder bumps into someone else’s the <em>second</em> you don’t pay attention, but you ignore it. You’re not quite sure Seokjin remembers your number – you sure as hell don’t remember his, and it’s not in your phone in this universe. You can’t get into his office building since you don’t work there anymore, and you can’t exactly stand in front of it all day in the hopes you can catch him while he’s entering or leaving. All you can do is wait for him to show up somewhere the same time as you.</p><p>You almost laugh with the irony of it all. Had you still been in that damn romcom, you probably would’ve already bumped into him by now – but here, you just have to trust that he’s still sticking to the habit of visiting your firm before he gets to work.</p><p>With a soft sigh, you push open the door to your own office building, throwing a careless glance at the skyscraper across the street before you walk inside.</p><p>“Good morning, Jim!” you cheerfully greet the security guard at the small front desk. Your voice echoes through the lobby and a few people look at you with their eyebrows raised. Ignoring the silent questioning of your sanity, you head for the elevators with a spring in your step.</p><p>Jim looks up with an amused smile. “Morning, Y/N,” he replies, twirling a pencil between his fingers. “Won the lottery or something?”</p><p>You grin and look over your shoulder. “Something like that,” you reply, hitting the button to summon one of the elevators, and the doors to your right jump open with a <em>ding!</em> “See you for lunch!”</p><p>Jim laughs and waves at you as you step inside. With a happy sigh, you hit the button to your floor and lean against the elevator wall, sending a bright smile to the person next to you. She just nods awkwardly and quickly turns to look in front of her, sipping from her coffee.</p><p>Your eyes flutter closed for a moment as you listen to the elevator music you’ve heard a thousand times before. Before you can enjoy it too much, though, the elevator doors slide open on your floor and you bid the stranger goodbye, trying not to sprint towards your office at the end of the hallway. You speedwalk into the small reception area, hoping that you –</p><p>You bump into a hard chest, your work bag drops to the floor as you yelp in surprise and stumble back, almost falling back into the corridor when a pair of arms wraps around you and pulls you upright.</p><p>Seokjin smiles down at you. “See, and I almost thought it would be safe to get a coffee, but…” he trails off, an amused grin pulling at his lips.</p><p>A surge of happiness rushes through you and a bright smile breaks out – you can’t hold back the squeal that escapes your lips as Seokjin lets go of your waist, only to have yours fly around his neck, and he laughs as he pats your back. “We fucking did it, man!” you exclaim, pulling back to beam up at him.</p><p>He’s in a white dress shirt, the first button of his collar is popped and his dark striped tie is loosened slightly – more notably, though, he’s panting, his chest is heaving and his cheeks are flushed. His hair is a little messy, probably for the first time in… well, forever – in this universe, at least. He looks like he came here running, and you can’t help but feel amused and, admittedly, a little relieved. <em>At least you’re not the only one who cares.</em></p><p>His smile widens and his eyes seem to twinkle even in the depressing fluorescent office lights. “I think we did,” he mutters, blinking at you, and you look back at him. You notice his cheeks growing redder as the seconds tick by, though you’re not quite sure if it’s still from the running, or…</p><p>He clears his throat. “Hey, about– about what we said and did and everything…” he starts lowly, looks around. When you do the same, you realise that you’re being stared at by not just Moonsik, but everyone waiting for their appointments, and you quickly take a step back to –</p><p>“Good morning, Y/N, how –” Nara’s sentence dies out as soon as it started and you jolt even further away from Seokjin, your head whipping around. She blinks at you as she lowers her cup of coffee, the sleeve of her bright floral blouse falling down her arm. Her gaze flickers to Seokjin, who you’re currently not arguing with like usual, who’s smiling so <em>warmly</em> at both her and you. Her eyebrows furrow as she looks back at you, her loose hair moving along with the movement as she tilts her head at you. “What uh… what’s up?”</p><p>“It’s a good morning, is what it is,” you breathe out, walking to Nara to hug her tightly. You fight the urge to tell her you’ve missed her because <em>you literally saw her just yesterday, as far as she knows</em>. “It’s good to see you.”</p><p>Nara lets out a laugh, though she returns the hug and wraps her arms around you, careful not to spill her coffee. “Good to see you too, Y/N,” she returns, though she sounds as confused as you’d expect she would be– but you don’t exactly care. “You doing okay?”</p><p>You pull back and let out yet another happy sigh. “More than okay,” you reply with a nod, smiling at her.</p><p>Her eyebrows shoot up, and she warily glances over your shoulder to look at Seokjin. “And what about, uh…”</p><p>“Oh, just dropping by to… discuss some things,” Seokjin replies hastily, and you glance at him over your shoulder only to see him smiling politely.</p><p>Nara gapes at him for a moment, looks back at you, narrows her eyes slightly. “Want me to stay here so you don’t throw him out the window, or…?”</p><p>You laugh and shake your head, which only deepens Nara’s frown. “I’ll be fine, I’ll meet you at our desks, alright?”</p><p>She smiles and nods quietly, her eyes flickering to Seokjin once more before she pats your cheek. “Good luck, I guess,” she says, slowly regaining her composure. “Don’t commit any crimes in here, yeah? We’ve got CCTV in here.”</p><p>You snort as she walks through the small waiting area, glancing at Seokjin as she passes him. “Good thing I’m at a law firm, then, eh?”</p><p>Nara laughs. “You’re an idiot,” she calls over her shoulder as she opens the door to the office and closes it behind her.</p><p>You turn back to Seokjin, and he looks back with an amused smile, raising an eyebrow without saying a word. You narrow your eyes, crossing your arms. “So you were here to… <em>discuss some things</em>, were you? Is that why you came running?” you tease.</p><p>He snorts, shaking his head as he puts his hands back into his pockets. He doesn’t do a great job at suppressing his smile, and you almost let yourself soften at the sight. It’s one of the only things that’s been constant throughout this whole… <em>adventure</em>, and it makes you feel warm inside, somehow.</p><p>“We should probably talk somewhere less– public,” Seokjin replies, glancing at Moonsik who is <em>very</em> subtly listening in to your conversation from behind his desk. You can’t exactly blame the guy, though – you’ve been fighting right in front of him since he started working here, and here you are. Not trying to tear each other’s throats out.</p><p>You smile, looking back at Seokjin as Moonsik hastily averts his eyes and scribbles something onto a post-it. “Sure,” you say with a nod. “I know a place,” you add, brushing past him on your way out. He follows you into the hallway, and you glance at the morning skyline as you walk, a small smile pulling at your lips.</p><p>A few steps later, you find the door labelled <em>staff</em> and pull it open, grinning in victory when you find that it’s not locked – as always – and you pull Seokjin inside. Switching on the light, you lean against the shelf behind you and cross your arms.</p><p>Seokjin looks around, an amused smile pulling at his lips as he spots the products that line the shelves, the mop standing in the corner, and he turns to look at you. “Janitor’s closet, huh?” he says through a laugh. “Nice touch.”</p><p>You grin and shrug. “What can I say, I try to look for the romcom in everyday life.”</p><p>With a snort, he leans against the shelves across from you. The space is not as tight as the closet you were in just a day before, and it feels a lot more comfortable, not having him forced into your personal space.</p><p>Paradoxically, though, you want to be closer to him at the same time.</p><p>“So speaking of,” Seokjin starts, looking up at you with a small frown. His arms are crossed, and he drums his fingers on his sleeve. “I uh…”</p><p>He trails off and falls silent.</p><p>Your eyebrows shoot up, and slowly, carefully, you lean forward in expectation. “Did you wanna watch a proper romcom with me, <em>Seokjinnie</em>?” you tease.</p><p>Letting out a laugh, he averts his eyes to look at a strangely large collection of toilet paper on a shelf somewhere above your head. “Well, if that’s your idea of a date, then I guess I’ll take it,” he returns, looking back at you almost gingerly, as if he’d lose eye contact if he were to shift his gaze too fast.</p><p>Your heart stutters, and you blink at him. <em>Yes. Dude, of course.</em> “A– a <em>date</em>, huh?” you breathe out. It’s not that you weren’t expecting any sort of mention of how you got out– you just didn’t expect him to be so blunt about it. Or for him to want more than that one kiss.</p><p>Relief streaks through your veins at the thought.</p><p>He breathes out a laugh, looking down at his feet as he nods slowly.</p><p>You smile fondly at the way his cheeks flush a darker red – you’re quite sure <em>this</em> is not from the running anymore. “Are you… trying to ask me out, Kim?” you ask slowly, pursing your lips to suppress the giddy laugh that’s bubbling in your throat.</p><p>He puckers up his lips, chews on the inside of his cheek – though you can clearly spot the smile breaking through the attempted seriousness, and your own grin only widens. “Well, that depends, really,” he says, tilting his head. His eyes are big, round, so <em>shiny</em> that you just can’t look away. “Do you want me to?”</p><p>You can’t help but notice the way your heart pounds faster. “I think I would,” you reply, your voice growing softer as you take a step closer. Seokjin lets out a breath that sounds almost shaky, and he looks at you in anticipation. “But, you know. You never know if you don’t actually do it, right?”</p><p>He bites on his bottom lip to keep his smile from growing, and he nods slowly, hums. “Duly noted,” he says, his grin growing as he leans against the shelf behind him. He suddenly seems relaxed, very sure of himself. “I have a question for you, then.”</p><p>Your lips curl up. “Ask away.”</p><p>He takes a deep breath, then lets it out so slowly that you’re quite sure he’s stalling for time, that he’s drawing this all out just to <em>bully</em> you and – “Would you recommend your firm to anyone? As a workplace, I mean.”</p><p>Your lips part in surprise and confusion, and you blink at him. “Wh– what?”</p><p>His lips twitch with a smile, and he shrugs. “I’m asking for a friend, of course,” he adds in a whisper, winking at you.</p><p>You huff out a laugh, shaking your head. “I –” You pause. You’ve been working here since you graduated, and all this time you’ve been looking at the building across the street, hoping you could work <em>there</em> instead. But… “Yeah,” you reply with a nod, a smile pulling at your lips. “Yeah, I would. You actually get to see the inside of a courtroom once in a while, too, more than…” You clear your throat to mask a chuckle. “Other firms I’ve heard of.”</p><p>Seokjin laughs, then nods quietly.</p><p>You tilt your head. “I could always give you a tour, just to get your… <em>friend </em>a little more information. Bet I can do you one better than ‘office. People work here’,” you tease, extending your elbow to gently poke him in the side.</p><p>He laughs. “I might take you up on that, thanks,” he mutters, glancing down at his feet before his eyes move back to your face. “I just have one more question, then,” he adds softly.</p><p>“Ask away,” you say just as gently, and you take another step closer. To hear him better, of course.</p><p>His lips twitch with a smile he doesn’t hold back, and your heart flutters yet again as he looks at you. <em>Dammit. This whole thing fucked you up bad– and you like it much better this way.</em> “Are you guys allowed to kiss coworkers at the office?”</p><p>Almost instinctively, you lick your lips, sucking in your bottom lip and you <em>swear</em> Seokjin’s gaze flickers down to your mouth for a split second. With a hum, you nod slowly, so awfully aware how close your face is to his. “I think we can, so long as it’s not too… distracting.”</p><p>He nods slowly. “Good to know.”</p><p>You can’t help the smile that pulls at your lips as you raise an eyebrow at him. “Any particular reason why you wanted to know, Kim?”</p><p>He grins, clears his throat as he quickly composes himself. “Well, see, there’s this really pretty girl I met a while ago,” he says, tilting his head at you. “And we had a pretty great time recently, but we didn’t really get to… properly finish things.”</p><p>You hum, your eyebrows shooting up in mock-surprise as you try to hide the way your heart pounds in your chest, the way your cheeks flush hotly.</p><p>“And I’m not really one for leaving things unfinished,” he adds. “So I thought I’d just make sure I could… you know…” Ironically enough, he doesn’t finish his sentence, lets his words die out into silence instead, and his eyes flicker down to your lips again – a lot more obviously this time.</p><p>“Finish,” you fill in.</p><p>He laughs and looks down at his feet, just as you realise how <em>wrong</em> that sounds. “Yeah, <em>finish</em>,” he says, laughing along with you. He lifts his eyes to yours, they’re glittering with laughter– you can barely hold back the dreamy sigh you want to let out. <em>God, he really is disgustingly pretty.</em></p><p>“Well, I –”</p><p>The door opens and bright light streams into the closet, almost blinding you. You jump a mile back– your head hits the shelf behind you and pain bursts in the spot.</p><p>“What are you two planning on doing in here?” someone grumbles.</p><p>Rubbing the back of your head, you squint at the figure in the entrance as Seokjin starts to apologise; “Ah, oh, this– really, this isn’t what it looks like, we were just talking, don’t wor–”</p><p>“I don’t– I don’t think I wanna know, man,” the janitor huffs, brushing past the two of you to grab the mop, snatching an empty bucket hidden underneath the shelves. She barely spares you a glance, shaking her head. “It’s too early for this shit.”</p><p>You take a breath to reassure her that, really, this <em>isn’t</em> what it looks like, at least you think so– “Hey, listen –”</p><p>“We’re leaving,” Seokjin interrupts through a sheepish chuckle, grabbing your wrist and pulling you out of the closet, back into the bright daylight, back towards the skyline that shimmers in the hot summer sun, stretches out as far as you can see.</p><p>“So I think janitor’s closets aren’t really a normal place to have conversations in real life, Y/N,” he says through a laugh, glancing over his shoulder as the janitor steps out of the closet and pointedly locks the door behind her. She glares at you over her shoulder as she lugs the mop off into the hallway, and you bite your lip to suppress an embarrassed chuckle. “Got too used to those romcom privileges, eh?”</p><p>You snicker, looking down at your wrist as his grip loosens around it, his fingers starting to fall away slowly– you grab hold of them before he can pull them away, fighting a smile as you tug him closer. “I thought you wanted to– ahem, <em>finish</em>,” you tease, a smirk curling at your lips as you fumble with the hem of his sleeve.</p><p>He raises an eyebrow but smiles at you, his eyes flickering down to your lips. “Well, I mean, the janitor’s closet was just so much more romantic,” he mutters, leaning closer until his nose brushes yours and you smile, your eyes fluttering closed.</p><p>“Just kiss me, you dummy,” you shoot back and he laughs, takes a breath to say something– and you just get too impatient with him, pulling him in to <em>finally</em> kiss him again.</p><p>He’s not as surprised as last time, and he reacts swiftly by wrapping an arm around you. His thumb rubs into your hip as he parts his lips and you follow, tasting surprisingly sugary morning coffee on his tongue. There’s no explosive firework display behind you, no dizzying whirlwind that sweeps you off your feet, it doesn’t knock the wind out of you or takes your breath away– but it’s warm, and it’s gentle, and it’s so damn comforting that you just want to stay in his arms and do this all day.</p><p>You sigh in content as his tongue brushes across your lip, and your fingers run through the short hairs at the base of his neck. You feel him shiver against you in response, his arms tightening around you as his chest presses to yours. He sighs softly, a smile twitching at his lips, and a warm sensation flows through your veins as you melt against him.</p><p>When you pull back, your eyes still closed, Seokjin presses his forehead against yours. He chases your lips for just a moment, his nose brushing over your skin as he leans back an inch. You breathe silently for a moment, a small smile breaking out as he kisses you just once more, lingering for a second before he pulls away further, clears his throat and straightens his tie.</p><p>A slow grin spreads over your features as you reluctantly let go of him, crossing your arms instead. “So,” you start, trying to ignore the way your cheeks burn hot. “Glad you got to finish?”</p><p>He purses his lips into a straight line, though it still twitches with a wide smile. “Very,” he says with a subtle nod. He clears his throat again, and you resist the urge to brush your fingers across his red cheeks just to check how hot they are. “One more thing.”</p><p>An amused smile pulls at your lips. “Well, you know, I do really have some work to do in this universe, so –”</p><p>“Lemme buy you a coffee later,” he blurts out, breathily and almost shakily, as if he didn’t just ask you out minutes ago, as if you didn’t just <em>kiss</em>. “For lunch or something.”</p><p>You breathe out sharply and smile even more brightly when he lets out another shaky breath. “What, for old time’s sake or something?” you return, leaning against the window behind you. “Want me to spill it on you again?”</p><p>He snorts, pulling at his wrist cuffs to straighten them out, a shy smile teasing over his lips. “We can figure out the details later.”</p><p>With a laugh, you nod slowly. “Alright, on one condition,” you tell him, poking his chest. He raises an eyebrow, looking down at your finger as you keep it pressing to his sternum. “I’ll go out to lunch with you if we watch a romcom over dinner,” you say, dropping your hand back down to your side. “A proper one, with none of the rushing.”</p><p>He laughs, smoothing out his tie once more. “God, aren’t you sick of romcoms at this point?”</p><p>You smile, reaching out to grip his tie and pull him back into you. “Now that I don’t have to live through another one?” you reply, standing up on your tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips, lingering there for a moment to feel his mouth curl up into a smile. “Never,” you mumble softly, rubbing your nose against his.</p><p>Abruptly, you pull back to grin up at him, your eyebrows raised as you fumble with his tie. “So? Coffee for lunch, romcom for dinner?”</p><p>His smile grows as he nods. He presses another kiss to your lips, pauses, then kisses you once more, and a warm feeling rushes through you. “Done.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks so so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!! This is definitely one of my biggest projects so far, and I’m so happy to finally share the full thing with you guys!! Thank you to everyone who has left kudos and comments on the fic so far, I really appreciate it and it means so much to me🥺 As always, don’t hesitate to let me know what you thought of the complete fic, I’d love to hear your thoughts!! :) I hope you have a wonderful day/night, and see you soon!!♥♥♥</p>
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